Children of the Maw
by Engelsoft
Summary: This story follows the (relatively canonical, with some fun twists) journeys of Six, Seven (the Runaway Kid), as well as an OC named Eight (based on the 'runaway girl' from the DLC) as they work together to defeat monstrous enemies and escape the Maw. Please click on the story for more info/disclaimers! COMPLETE and will have a sequel after Little Nightmares II is released ;)
1. Chapter 1

**Children of the Maw**

Summary, Author's Notes and Disclaimer:

Rating: M. This story follows the (relatively canonical, with some fun twists) journeys of Six, Seven / the Runaway Kid, as well as an OC named Eight (based on the 'runaway girl' from the DLC) as they work together to defeat monstrous enemies and escape the Maw. I will do my best to upload a new chapter every few days or so.

This is my first fanfic ever so please be nice! Having recently played Six's campaign and the DLC, and with the announcement of _Little Nightmares II_, I thought it'd be a perfect time to delve into some fanfic!

Disclaimer: This story is based on the _Little Nightmares _universe. Therefore, many of the characters, events and locations are based on the canonical features of the game and are not my own creations. I take no credit for the work of Tarsier Studios but seek only to create a work of fiction inspired by it. I hope you enjoy!

**Chapter 1:**

**Seven**

On a stained mattress, surrounded by darkness, on a colossal ship rocking to and fro under the currents of the ocean, Seven woke abruptly from a nightmare. He quickly sat up and looked around, reality flooding back as he tightly gripped the mattress in his small fingers. He slowly ran a hand through his matted hair, trying to part the sweaty locks. Eventually, his heartbeat calmed and his breathing returned to normal. He was ok: the Nursery was perhaps one of the safest places in the Prison.

His sudden waking had, thankfully, not alerted any of the other children. As his eyes adjusted to the ever-present gloom, Seven saw their figures curled up on their beds, fast asleep. The blind Janitor - with his peeling face and unnaturally long arms - luckily wasn't here either.

And…neither was Eight, the girl who slept next to him. Seven stretched his fingers out across the mattress, feeling over to where she usually lay right beside him. But the bedding was cold. All that was there was her doll, which had been given to her by the Janitor for being one of the most well-behaved children. It was possible the Janitor had just accompanied her outside the Nursery, which happened every now and then when a child had to use the bathroom during the night.

There was no way Seven could go back to sleep now, being too shaken up from his nightmare. Darkness had pressed in from all sides, and he had been swimming in a seemingly endless pool of deep, rank water. He hadn't been able to tell left from right, up from down. Then a slimy, bony hand had closed around his ankle.

Seven shivered. Maybe he was trapped here forever, never to escape or see the light of day ever again. He decided he might as well try and sleep again, curling up once more on the lumpy bed. But sleep wouldn't come...and what's more, Eight was taking an awfully long time to return. Had she even been taken to the bathroom at all?

Seven sat up again. Something wasn't right - children never took this long to return from somewhere. Straining his ears to listen, Seven could hear the dull thrum of the petrifying Eye outside, a carved eye that was switched on at nighttime and turned escaping children to stone if they were caught in its beam of light. He could hear the creak of the ship's machinery; the occasional shifting of one of the kids across from him. No sign of Eight or the Janitor.

Seven's curiosity got the better of him. He listened for a few moments more, to be absolutely certain the Janitor wasn't nearby, and then he quietly climbed down from his bed and crept across the floor. The door to the Nursery was slightly ajar, and he slipped through with ease. Every hair on his body stood on end, and a nervous tingle swept across his skin. He had never dared to sneak outside the Nursery alone.

Before him, two more storeys below, was the Eye Beam with its deadly light. Seven peered down through the darkness and his breath hitched - the Janitor was down there, and he appeared to be chasing someone, sweeping his long arms across the floor and relying on his hearing and smell to track them. Was he chasing Eight?

No - because after a few seconds, the Eye Beam swivelled back across the space and lit the floor well enough for Seven to catch a glimpse of her. She was standing very still so the Janitor didn't hear her, shielded from the Eye Beam by a stray cage on the floor.

She was trying to escape while the Janitor's attention was on someone else. And in that split second - with the Janitor distracted, with Eight igniting that scrap of hope inside him - Seven decided he would escape too.

Seven ran across the floor, past the bolted doors where the 'mad' kids were kept, and into that one abandoned room that had stood empty for as long as he could remember. He'd never explored it, only ever seeing it in passing on trips to the playroom. The room was in disrepair, as with many areas of the ship, and the floorboards were broken. Seven peered into the hole and saw that if he dropped down, he'd land on a bed on the storey below.

It was a gamble, but Seven knew he may not get a second chance at escape. Bracing himself, he dropped down through the wrecked floorboards and landed on the bed below. A cloud of dust rose up from the impact, and he coughed it out of his small lungs. He was in another abandoned room that had once been home to one of the mad kids. Drawings were littered all over the floor: scribbles of eyes, a long-armed figure who had to be the Janitor, and a child in a bright yellow raincoat. Seven had heard rumours about them - an escapee girl by the name of Six - but he did not have time to dwell on her. Running to the exit, he found himself on the second storey.

Seven watched in time to see the Janitor shuffling back underneath the Eye Beam with a squirming child in his hands. As he passed through the light, the security beam had no effect on him. Seven was not surprised. After all, the Janitor was not human. He was a grotesque puppet-like creature much larger than any of the children, with short, stumpy legs and eerily long arms to reach high shelves and fleeing children. His face had sagged down over his eyes, blinding him, and his polished wooden skull was visible under his hat. The Janitor was apparently not smart enough to fix his face, otherwise, he would have smoothed out the rolls of saggy skin over his eyes and been able to regain his sight a long time ago.

Seven crossed the second storey only after the Janitor had vanished through a door, and then quickly climbed down a large stack of metal cages to reach the final floor. The Eye Beam was dangerously close now, but in order to escape from the Nursery, he would have to outrun it. Seven watched the Eye Beam's path from his place next to the cages, memorising its movement and counting the seconds that he would have to hide in the dark spots before it swivelled around again and turned him to stone.

Once he was ready - or as ready as he could ever be - Seven darted out from behind the cages and ran to a pillar in the centre of the room. He could not be certain, but he thought he saw Eight's figure disappear around a corner just as he reached his new hiding place. It was too dangerous to call out to her though, and he didn't have the time anyway - the Eye Beam was about to shift again, and he prepared to sprint to safety.

He counted down...3, 2, 1 - and a window of opportunity opened before him. Dodging the crumbling forms of petrified children who had already fallen victim to the Beam, Seven raced out from behind the pillar and safely rounded the corner with time to spare. Catching his breath, he looked over his shoulder and whispered a quick prayer for the stone children who hadn't made it. Then, not daring to stay in one place for too long, he continued.

The playroom and the bathroom had both been deserted, eerily quiet and dark. The emptiness had spooked Seven, and he'd slipped as quickly as he could through the cold metal bars and into the next room. Normally these bars were electrified, but Seven assumed that was only during the day when the children came to play there. Luckily, they had been turned off for now.

Glancing up, Seven laid eyes upon what seemed to be the only sign of life in the place. On the tiny, barred window, someone had secured a rope of some kind. He climbed up to it and saw that it was made up of several bedsheets, tied end-to-end and reaching right down the side of the Prison wall. Seven couldn't believe his eyes. Here was a way out, a path to freedom, and it seemed to have come to him so easily. But who had left this? Had it been Eight? Had she already escaped?

Gripping the rope and giving it a tug to test its strength, Seven climbed down the rope and reached the bottom safely. He looked back up at the barred window in amazement, sure that if he blinked too hard the bedsheet rope would vanish. It was a miracle that it had been put here, and he hoped that other children would find it too before the Janitor did.

Beyond the Prison was a vast expanse of metal walls and floors, large wooden crates and various tunnels and drainpipes. Seven found his way into another room and saw that a drain in the floor had been opened up. Eight had surely loosened it, right? Had she dropped down? There was only one way to find out. Seven sat at the edge of the drain and dangled his legs inside. All that he could see was yawning darkness, and there was no telling how far down the drainpipe stretched.

Seven braced himself and prepared to drop once more, and then he pushed off the edge of the drain. Adrenalin gripped his entire body as he slid down a cold, wet expanse of metal pipeline - and then he felt himself falling through empty space, falling through time, before he fell into a deep, dark water-filled pit below.

Panic overtook him as he re-lived the terror of his nightmare. The sewage water filled his mouth and covered his eyes and ears, and he spluttered, flailing as he tried to keep his head above the surface. In the dim light, he spotted several floating pieces of debris - wooden planks, suitcases, empty metal cans - and swam as quickly as he could over to them. Seven hauled himself up onto them and made his way to a solid platform at the other side of the space. There, he finally climbed up and allowed himself a few minutes to recover, panting and trembling in every limb.

He had decided to escape, to push through the most dangerous areas of the Nursery and pursue the figure who he thought was Eight...but this was horrible. Shivering from the cold and trying to wring water out of his faded clothes, Seven almost wished he could be back on his bed in the Nursery. He wouldn't be completely free there - with the Janitor's patrolling and the Eye Beam's light - but at least he would be safe and warm and fed, and in the company of other kids.

But he had already made it this far, and he knew he could only go forwards. "Come on," Seven told himself firmly, looking around for his next move. "We've made it this far, there's no going back."

In the next space was something odd. A light caught Seven's eye, and as he squeezed through a gap in the wall, he saw that it was a glowing flashlight. He ran over and picked it up. Was this Eight's? She had to have come this way! Seven swept the flashlight from side to side across the space and saw a puddle of inky black leech-slime on the floor. Beyond it was a trail of bare footprints slightly larger than his own.

"Eight!" Seven called. "Eight? Are you around here? It's me, Seven!"

He listened, but there was no answer. Entering the next room, the young boy was alarmed to see a large, slimy leech crawling towards him. He quickly raced away from it, following Eight's footprints - but then they abruptly stopped. Why did they stop? What had happened to her?

Seven didn't have the time to ponder where Eight had gone. He sprinted away before the leech closed in, wondering if she had even survived as far as he had at all.

And so, he continued through the sewer, encountering nothing but the odd rat and blood-lusting leech, seeing nothing but puddles and pipes and floating trash. Seven grew cold, tired and lonely. The constant swimming and wading through the stinking water had been taking its toll. He guessed that it was almost time for the children in the Nursery to get out of bed now. His stomach growled, meaning it was probably close to breakfast time. Most of the night had passed, and he hadn't progressed very far because he'd needed to stop every so often and take breaks from swimming.

Seven had just entered a new room with a long stretch of water, and a platform on the other side. He scanned the room for leeches and then decided it was safe enough to jump in and quickly make it across. But before he entered, his bare foot brushed something at the water's edge. With the aid of the flashlight, Seven crouched down and saw that it was an off-white dress identical to the ones the girls in the Prison wore. Eight's? It was sticky with black leech-slime, and Seven guessed that Eight had taken it off so she could swim better, stripping down to her undergarments. Maybe she had also left it as a clue for other escaped kids, a way of saying 'I made it this far, and so can you! This is the way, so keep going!'

Seven knew that Eight was very intelligent. As one of the older kids in the Prison, she would often sit in the playroom and read the picture books from cover to cover, poring over the words and illustrations to glean any sort of knowledge she could from them. When the Janitor wasn't around, she'd also sing hushed nursery rhymes to the younger children to soothe them if they woke from a nightmare or needed comfort. Seven had no doubt in his mind that the bedsheet rope was her work, and that this dress was another ray of hope she had left.

Tucking the flashlight into the collar of his shirt so it would stay as dry as possible, Seven entered the water and began to swim across. But before he was even halfway across, Seven noticed something that terrified him. Forming behind him was a stream of bubbles, and he caught sight of a long, skinny arm under the murky water.

Putting on a burst of speed, Seven swam as fast as he could to the other platform before the _thing_ could reach him. He'd heard whispered rumours about this, had seen scribbly drawings of a tall, old woman submerged in water - and that was what caused his nightmare. But he never thought he'd actually come face to face with the Granny.

Seven's small hands grasped the platform and he dragged himself up as quickly as he could, rolling over the side and scrambling as far away from the water's edge as he could. Shining the flashlight back across the water, he saw a pale hand with long, bony fingers sink back down and disappear. Seven shivered violently at the sight of it and hurried through a grate in the wall, trying to put as much distance between himself and the aquatic monster.

Exhausted with fatigue and fear, Seven sat down with his back against a wooden crate and caught his breath. He placed the flashlight beside him to illuminate the room, not daring to turn it off. He thought this place was safe enough to stay in for the time being: there was no deep water here and no way the Granny could follow him through that tiny gap.

Who - or what - was she anyway? Seven hadn't gotten a good look at her, but the rumours and drawings described her as some lanky old woman with grotesque, soggy skin who lived in water. How did she get to the sewers in the first place? Why was she on the ship at all?

"Hello?"

Seven jumped, grabbing the flashlight and pointing it in the direction of the voice. In the bright beam of light stood a girl with dark skin and messy black plaits reaching to her waist. She shielded her eyes from the flashlight, blinking fiercely.

"Eight?" Seven asked, bewildered. He lowered the flashlight and the girl nodded. Seven noticed she was wearing nothing but saturated undergarments.

"Your name is Seven, right?" Eight asked. "I can't believe you made it this far..." Her dark eyes roamed over Seven's dripping clothes, his shivering form. "Are you alright? I see you found my flashlight…"

"Yeah." Seven stood up, handing the flashlight back to Eight, but she shook her head.

"You keep it for now. I'm glad it got you this far." She looked over into the looming darkness. "I haven't been able to go further than this without it. It gets really dark from here on out. And I was too scared to leave this place, with that old lady still around." Eight looked back at Seven, biting her lip. "You've seen her, right?"

Seven swallowed hard. He thought of the bony fingers, reaching above the sewage to drag him under the water. "The Granny? Yeah, I have." Then, after a silence: "What do you know about her?"

"Not much," Eight replied. "I've never met her. Well...at least not before she became a monster." She sat down next to the wooden crate, and Seven did the same. "But I've heard rumours about her from some of the earliest kids to have come onto the ship. Apparently she was a kind, caring old woman who helped the kids get showered and dressed and stuff. She was getting pretty old, and kinda sick, and she'd forget her jobs sometimes. But one day she just disappeared."

"And now she's here?" Seven whispered. "In the sewer?" Disbelief was written all over his face.

"Yeah," Eight answered. "It doesn't make sense, but this is a weird place anyway. Like the Janitor...he isn't even a proper human, more like a weird puppet-monster. I've been trying to learn more about this place - so I can find a way out."

"You left the sheet-rope, didn't you?"

Eight nodded. "Yes. I spent so many nights gathering all the sheets in secret. And the flashlight...It was mine before I even came on the ship, but I hid it before the Bellman or the Janitor could take it away, then I moved it to the Nursery when it was safe. It's been under my mattress for so long...I'm surprised it even still works."

"I just hope some other kids can find the rope before the Janitor does," Seven said.

"Me too. And I'm glad you did." Eight smiled weakly at Seven. He noticed how strained her face looked, how tired. Goosebumps dotted her skin. "I wonder if I did the right thing," Eight said finally, almost to herself.

"What do you mean?"

"Leaving the Prison, leaving all the other younger kids in there to fend for themselves. I couldn't risk telling anyone what I was planning, but I just hope some more of them manage to escape without my help." Eight looked away, drawing her knees up to her chest. Her voice became choked with tears. "I'm the only 12-year-old; I'm the oldest so I feel responsible for all the other kids. What are they gonna do without me?"

Seven patted Eight on the shoulder. He had seen lots of kids cry before, but he never really knew how to comfort them, and he hadn't been able to with the Janitor lurking around anyway. "It's ok, you're not responsible for them all. You did your best."

Eight sniffled. "That's why I left the rope and the open drainpipe. The footprints, my dress - everything. I wanted to leave clues to help everyone."

"And they did help! Otherwise, I would never have made it here."

Eight smiled again, but this time her eyes twinkled a little too. She wiped away her tears. "Yeah."

"What happened to you anyway? Were you attacked by a leech?"

Eight nodded. "After I came down the drainpipe I was startled by a leech. I managed to fight it off, but that's when I dropped the flashlight. I ran, and then I climbed to get away from it."

"_That's_ why the footprints suddenly vanished!" Seven exclaimed. "Because you started climbing! I was scared there for a minute…"

"What? Oh...yes."

Eight's stomach growled noisily. Seven stood up and extended his hand to her. "What do you say we keep moving? We can work together to get out of here, maybe even find some food."

Eight took Seven's hand and he helped her up. She was quite a bit taller than him and having her by his side rekindled his hope.

"Then let's go," Eight said. "Stay close to me, ok? And keep the flashlight safe no matter what."


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes: Hi! Hopefully, you enjoyed chapter one. This next chapter follows Six's journey. As this is my first ever fanfic, any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for taking the time to read my work and enjoy!

**Please also note:** This chapter has a (mild?) death/suicide mention so please refrain from reading if you want to avoid those themes.

**Chapter 2:**

**Six**

In the deepest parts of the ship, safely away from the confines of the Prison, yet another child was startled awake from a nightmare. She took a moment to calm down and sit up in her makeshift bed - an open suitcase padded with scraps of cloth. This nightmare had been haunting Six for days now: a tall, black-haired woman wearing a kimono, slowly turning around to reveal an unnerving masked face. Black particles, some kind of inexplicable dark magic, swirled around her menacingly. Then the nightmare always ended with Six jolting awake.

Six produced her lighter from her pocket and flicked it on, finding comfort in the flame. The lighter was one of the only possessions she owned, as well as the bright yellow raincoat she wore. She'd managed to keep these things only because she'd been smart enough and brave enough to escape even before she'd been admitted into the Prison. While the other children's cages had been transported to the unloading area, Six had been busy devising a way out of her own cage. Then, evading the patrols of the Wax Bellman and Janitor, Six had raced away into the labyrinthine tunnels of the ship.

She had wound up here - Six's Hideout. It had everything she needed for survival: dripping water that she could drink, a suitcase bed to sleep in, spare planks of wood she could use to bridge across gaps, and stacks of canned food. However, Six had run out of cans yesterday, and she would have to venture into the Prison to steal more.

Six usually went at night to gather resources, when there was less activity, and she'd become awfully efficient at doing so. The path from her Hideout to the Prison's food stores was burned into her brain, and she knew it like the back of her hand. It was dangerous, of course, but she'd explored several routes until she'd found the fastest and safest.

She set off, not wanting to waste any time. Ascending was the easy part, as she rarely encountered anything other than leeches, which she could easily outrun. Once she was near the Prison, though, Six had to keep her eyes and ears focused on signs of the blind Janitor. One false move and he would hear or smell her.

Six reached what she called 'the Hanging Man Room' without any issues. But this part of the journey always unnerved her, as she had to run past the hanged corpse of a strange long-limbed man, someone unknown to her. Six theorised that he had not actually taken his own life at all, as the chair that he had supposedly kicked off from was too low to the ground for it to be plausible. There was a sealed envelope on the floor too, but Six couldn't bring herself to open and read it. Either way, Six believed the suicide had been staged.

Six took a deep breath and squeezed into the room, hurrying to the other side without looking up. She didn't need more fuel for her nightmares, and dwelling on who the man was or how he died would distract her from her ultimate mission: finding a way out of the Maw.

'The Maw' was the name of the gargantuan ship she was on, as she had seen on faded newspaper scraps scattered around her path. The articles had been too difficult to read in full, mostly faded, but Six had studied the black-and-white images and studied the words as much as she could: the Maw was a vessel easily a hundred times larger than a whale, which crawled along the floor of the Pacific Ocean and surfaced once a year to allow hundreds of hungry guests to board and feast. Six was unsure how or why the Maw did what it did. Unfortunately she didn't know where the 'Pacific Ocean' was either, but at least some basic knowledge was better than none at all.

When Six reached the last stretch of her journey, she noticed something odd. One of the sealed drains that she passed by had been uncovered, leaving a gaping hole that led somewhere even deeper down. Six rounded the hole with caution, not sure what this opened drain was supposed to mean. Had the Janitor been doing maintenance here? More alert than usual, Six continued quietly.

When she emerged near the wall of the Prison, however, Six stopped in her tracks altogether. There, in plain sight, was a rope of white bedsheets hanging down from one of the barred windows. A trap? No...the Janitor wasn't smart enough to do something like this, surely. This had to be the work of an escapee, someone like her. Where were they now? Did they make it far?

Six wasted no time, climbing the rope with ease and scoring a shortcut into the Prison. As she headed for the food stores, Six noticed something else that was off. There seemed to be many more stone children than usual who had been caught in the Eye Beam and petrified. What had happened? Some kind of riot involving a whole swarm of escaping children? Six didn't like this; the situation had danger written all over it. With utmost caution, she darted across the floor and avoided the Eye's light. Shortly after though, she heard someone call out to her. Six froze and slowly turned her head towards the sound.

"Six? Are you Six?" A child's voice came through the gloom, and Six took a few seconds to locate them in the dim light. The owner of the voice was a young boy. He was hiding under a chair, a little way from where she herself crouched underneath a low table. He waved to get her attention. Six flicked on her lighter so the boy could get a better look at her, and nodded. Then she put a finger to her lips, indicating to him to stay quiet.

"You _are_ Six, I can't believe it!" The child ignored Six's warning, exclaiming with delight. Six cringed as he yelled out, turning off her lighter and glancing around nervously out of pure instinct. Her sensitive ears picked up a sound: a loud gasp from the Janitor.

He was on patrol, and had heard the child's shout. The Janitor rushed over from the shadows, his horrible arms outstretched towards the direction of the child. The child locked eyes with Six, a look of pure terror on his face.

'RUN!' Six mouthed, retreating deeper under the table herself. But it was too late - paralysed with fear, the boy couldn't bring himself to run, and the Janitor's narrow hand closed around his waist. Six watched silently as the Janitor brought him out, dangling him in his fingers.

"Help me!" The boy screamed. "Six!"

But there was nothing Six could do except watch. The Janitor closed his hands tightly around the struggling child and carried him off. Six hoped that he would be ok. The Janitor usually didn't hurt kids, only returned them to their beds. Only the very rebellious kids, or those that were deemed 'mad' were taken somewhere else.

_I'm sorry, _Six thought. _I failed you._

She moved on. It was clear that the Janitor was being kept busy, hunting down kids who had dared to sneak out of their beds. It dawned on her that not only could she use this opportunity to gather more food and supplies - but perhaps she could escape the Maw entirely. After all, that was her plan, but she had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to set it in motion. First she would secure enough food, perhaps a weapon of some kind...and then she'd memorise the layout of the Prison until navigating it was a cinch. But now...Six realised that this might be one of the few, fleeting chances she'd ever get.

She took that chance. Going in the opposite direction to the food stores, Six managed to slip into one of the Nursery rooms, scale one of the shelves and crawl through a narrow tunnel before she had any problems. It was almost too easy - she supposed that weeks of running and jumping and sneaking through the Maw on her way to gather food had been more than enough to train her for this.

Before she could reach the Prison's showers though, and the loading bay after that, Six experienced one of her agonising hunger attacks.

They happened randomly, and she could never overcome them or think clearly during them. She became so weak that her vision blurred and she doubled over in pain, clutching her stomach. This wasn't usual hunger, but something more. Six shakily tried to press on, but she fell to her knees, breathing heavily. She had to keep moving and quickly find something she could eat, otherwise she'd become too weak to even hold her lighter.

She'd gotten lucky this time, though. Six could smell the stench of fish nearby, and realised from her surroundings that she was at the Prison's cafeteria. Even a scrap of food - a heel of bread, a fish tail - would be enough to sate her crippling hunger for now. Six groaned as another spasm racked her body, and she doubled over again.

She quickly looked up as she heard a scrape of metal, her heart beating erratically in fear. But it wasn't the Janitor, or anyone she should be concerned about. It was another boy. He was sitting on the other side of the cafeteria's metal bars, holding a metal bowl.

"Please…" Six said, gasping in pain. "I need food…"

The boy stood up, concern etched onto his face, and took a half-eaten bread roll from his bowl. He tossed it through the bars to Six, who could barely keep herself from pouncing on the bread and devouring it ravenously.

When the pain and hunger had subsided, and Six's mind had cleared, she regained her sense and wiped her mouth.

"Thank you," she murmured, standing. The boy, seeing that she was ok now, sat back down in relief.

"That's ok." A moment passed, and then he tilted his head to one side. "Who are you...?"

"My name's Six."

"Six...wait, I think I know who you are. The girl in the yellow raincoat, that's you!"

"That's me," Six replied.

"The other children idolise you," the boy continued, somewhat eagerly. "The way you seemed to escape so easily - you're like a legend."

_No-one should idolise me. I'm not a legend,_ Six thought.

"Well, I'm glad you're not starving anymore," the boy was saying. "I'm Fifteen by the way."

Six nodded.

"Where are you headed?"

"Out of here," she answered. "I've been trying to form an escape plan. And tonight finally seems to be the night to do it."

"Yeah," Fifteen agreed. "The kids are revolting. In your honour. A handful have already escaped."

Six didn't miss a beat. "Why haven't you?"

Fifteen sighed, looking down at his feet. "It's...it's because I don't know where I'll go afterwards. It's not like any of us remember where we came from. But at least here we're safe. We have food, toys, somewhere warm to sleep. That's all I can ask for I guess. Even if I have to work all day just for a piece of food."

Six could never find contentment in a place like the Prison, but she didn't say anything of that nature. "I have to go now," was all she said instead.

Fifteen nodded quietly. "Good luck out there."

"You too." She turned to go. "Goodbye." And with that, Six slipped away like a shadow, leaving both the boy and the Prison behind.

_\- End chapter -_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

**Eight**

Eight and Seven had been journeying through what they'd nicknamed 'the Depths' for some time now. They'd been working together, helping each other cross tricky jumps or lifting each other onto ledges. Eight had even managed to save Seven from another leech by throwing a metal can at it, grabbing his wrist and sprinting away from it.

But though Eight didn't voice it, she was starting to lose hope. She kept going for Seven's sake - he was two years younger than her, at the age of ten, and seemed to have more determination than she did. He seemed certain that they would both get out of this place without harm. Eight wasn't so sure, but she willed herself to try.

Currently, the children were resting on a ledge above a wide pool of water, whispering about their next move. There was no doubt the Granny was lurking somewhere in the dirty water, watching them. They would have to be quicker and smarter than her if they wanted to survive. Eight put her keen intellect to work, devising a plan.

"Ok...so these pieces of trash represent us," Eight said, placing them on the floor in front of Seven. "And this can is that big pipe over there." Here, Eight pointed to the far right, where, if they shone the flashlight, they could see the faint, gleaming curve of a wide pipe in the darkness.

Eight dotted some other scraps on the floor, explaining her plan further. "And these represent the floating objects we can use as platforms as we swim across. It's too dangerous to stay on them for long, or the Granny could knock us off into the water. But if we split up, I think these two paths will be the safest."

Eight traced out the paths with her fingers, so Seven could clearly see, and went on. "I'm taller, so I'm probably just that little bit faster at swimming than you. I'll use that to my advantage to reach the pipe first, and then I'll distract the Granny as much as I can by shining the flashlight around. When I'm doing that, you'll be able to make your way across and I'll pull you up, ok?"

"Ok," Seven said firmly. He sounded ready. Eight admired his bravery, which fed her own.

"And no matter what, don't look back. Just keep going as fast as you can. I'll guide you."

Seven agreed, and the pair stood up, looking out over the quiet water. There was still no sign of the Granny, but Eight knew she was under there somewhere, waiting. Eight calculated her path once more and knew Seven was doing the same.

"Are you ready?" She asked him.

"Yeah." Seven reached over and squeezed her hand. It was one of the first gestures of affection Eight had experienced on the ship, and it set her heart aflutter, filling her with warmth and reassurance.

"Ok," she whispered, returning his squeeze. "As planned. 1, 2, 3!"

Eight leapt off the ledge and felt Seven do the same. Time seemed to slow as she fell, and then she felt the filthy water embrace her. Surfacing quickly, Eight gasped a breath of air and began to swim. She could see the first object a short way in front of her, a floating metal barrel. Arms at the ready, she pulled herself up onto it, finding her balance as it tilted under her. She only allowed herself a second or two to pause before she took a running jump off the barrel and back into the water, swimming to yet another barrel.

The second one was easy enough to get to, and she had just stood up on it when she suddenly felt it jerk beneath her - the Granny had shoved it. Thrown off-balance, Eight fell headfirst into the water before she had time to fully prepare herself. Thrashing wildly, she managed to kick off the side of the barrel for a boost of speed and didn't dare look over her shoulder as she swam as fast as she could to the next object.

Eight had a strange sense of relief, however, as she realised that the Granny was chasing her instead of Seven. At least this would give him a chance to safely cross the water while the Granny was distracted. Eight felt her mind transfer to autopilot - swim, grab the next obstacle, pull herself up, jump off. Swim, grab, pull, jump. Swim, grab, pull, jump. Her body and mind, guided by adrenalin, worked in perfect harmony to get her to the other side of the water. Before she knew it, she was hauling herself up onto the huge pipe, safe from the Granny's clutches.

A giddy sense of joy washed over Eight for a brief moment, before her mind snapped back and she remembered the next phase of her plan. She had carried the flashlight in a cloth sling across her back, and now she quickly took it out and turned it on, locating Seven in the darkness.

Eight was relieved to see that he had made it about two-thirds of the way. Without the Granny at his heels, Seven had made good progress. But now that her first target was out of reach, the Granny had turned her attention to the remaining one. Eight watched in horror as the tell-tale stream of bubbles began gliding towards where Seven was swimming.

Urgency overcame her as she began waving the flashlight around furiously, keeping it aimed at the Granny. It was working; the monster seemed to be slowing down at least a little bit, unable to see Seven due to the bright, relentless light. Eight guessed that she would have fairly sensitive eyes, having lived down in a dark sewer for so long, and the light would probably be painful to her.

With new determination, Eight kept up her work, and Seven continued to swim and climb, not looking back once. After just a few more moments, he had reached the pipe and Eight was reaching down to help him up.

And he was safe. The two children watched as the Granny's soggy face peered above the water for a few seconds. She ground the few rotting teeth she had left in frustration, letting out a high-pitched shriek. Then she plunged back under the water. There was a ripple...and then she was gone.

Seven was panting heavily, and he and Eight exchanged a glance. They'd made it this far, but as they carefully turned around on the pipe, they saw that the water stretched even further. Eight shone the flashlight as far as she could, but it's beam only just illuminated the far wall.

"Right," Eight said. Before she and Seven's adrenalin faded entirely, they'd have to make their next move. She explored with the flashlight, seeing more obstacles in the water that they could use to their advantage. There was also a high platform with what looked like...a TV?

The cogs began turning in Eight's mind again, and she swept the flashlight over from the TV to a panel in the wall that was sparking with electricity. If she turned the panel's switch on, and then pushed the TV into the water with Seven's help, the entire pool would become electrified. The Granny would be killed. It was a risky plan, just like all her previous ones as well, but it was their only way out.

"What are you thinking?" Seven asked. He'd recovered from the chase and had cautiously stood up on the pipe, wringing water from his shirt and pants. Eight explained her plan to him, pointing out the panel and TV, plus the obstacles they could use. Seven was nodding as she spoke, his dark eyes thoughtful.

"It should work," he said. "But we have to make sure we aren't near the water when the TV falls in."

"Of course," Eight replied. She tried not to think of what would happen if either one of them fell in.

After fine-tuning the plan, Seven and Eight prepared to enter the water once more. First, Eight sacrificed her cloth sling by throwing it into the water as a decoy. It did what it was supposed to, attracting the Granny's attention in an instant. The long, bony arms seized the cloth and wrenched it down under the water before the Granny had noticed it wasn't a living thing.

By the time she realised she'd been tricked, the children were both a fair way away from the Granny, safely climbing up onto the platform with the TV. Eight, with her height advantage, jumped up to pull the lever on the panel. It sparked to life with electricity, and the TV switched on.

Working quickly, Seven and Eight rushed to the TV and began pushing the heavy thing towards the edge of the platform to topple it into the water. But something was wrong.

As Eight watched, the Granny reared out of the water and snatched one of the platform's supports, tugging it fiercely. She bellowed a shriek of rage, and the platform began to give way with a creaky groan.

"Hurry!" Seven shouted, and he and Eight pushed the TV with all their strength. Eight saw the Granny's fingertips curl over the edge of the platform, feeling feverishly around for the little nightmares who had dared to invade her watery dwelling. She shrieked once more, a sound that shook both children to their very cores - but then the TV was teetering over the edge and plunging deep into the water below.

A flashing white light ignited the water; a buzzing hiss rang in the children's ears; the Granny screamed her last scream. And then there was only darkness and the steady hum of the ship's machinery. They had done it.

Eight shakily turned on the flashlight and pointed it down, scanning the surface of the water all over. Once certain that the Granny was dead, she turned to Seven and a giddy smile slowly spread across her face. Seven shared Eight's delight, suddenly hugging her tightly.

"Oh!" Eight exclaimed in surprise, but then hugged the little boy back. He'd been so incredibly brave throughout the whole thing - they both had - and now it was time to move on.

"Let's get out of here," Seven said.

"Absolutely," Eight agreed.

"Maybe we can find some food too," Seven continued. "All that swimming and fighting made me hungry!"

Eight let out a rare giggle. "Yeah."

She hugged Seven again, and the two stood smiling at each other for a moment. "You were so brave," she said. She looked at him grinning and felt a fierce desire to protect him burning inside her. Eight had no siblings, but Seven was like a little brother to her.

"You were brave too," Seven answered. "And smart."

Eight smiled, and a weird, warm feeling spread in her chest. Pride?

"I think we make a good team," she said. "Now let's go and find something to eat."

_\- End chapter -_


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Notes: Hi again! Thanks for reading this far. Hopefully, the story isn't becoming too predictable, but if it is, please let me know! Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated :)

**Chapter 4:**

**Six**

Six had just made it out of the prison. At the very least, the Janitor hadn't noticed her at all and the only problems she'd faced had been more of the deadly Eye Beams. Her mind wandered back to the boy she'd seen get captured by the Janitor, and Fifteen, the boy who had given her the bread. She wondered if there was hope for them, not to mention all the other kids. She herself couldn't help them; she'd only end up endangering them sooner or later. Fifteen's words echoed in her mind, squeezing her heart: _The other children idolise you._

_But I'd only hurt them, _Six thought in silent reply.

The heavy, sliding doors of the Prison closed behind Six with a clang of metal. Even someone as big as the Janitor would find them large, let alone a child as tiny as Six. She was well and truly on her own now, out in the open. This is what she'd wanted...to find a way out. But now that this thick metal door separated her from the other children, she felt a pang of regret and loneliness.

She reminded herself she had to keep moving; it wasn't safe to dwell anywhere. Standing by the door, Six could see over the edge of the solid metal platform she was standing on. There was nothing but a huge, dark abyss, and she couldn't see the bottom. Above her was a series of wooden staircases that led higher up into the Maw. She couldn't see where they went to either, but they were her only option. She'd just have to be fast and stealthy, in case someone like the Janitor or Wax Bellman came along.

Six climbed stair after stair until she reached another large, open door about halfway up. Perhaps there was something in there that could serve as a clue to where she was, or perhaps even a way out. The lights appeared to be off, and Six assumed that meant no-one was inside. Ever cautious, she entered the room and moved along the length of the wall until she reached a bunch of filing cabinets and a desk. She was inside someone's office, and immediately guessed it belonged to the Wax Bellman.

The Wax Bellman, named for his face that looked like dripping, melted candle wax, had been one of the first people - if he could even be called a person - that Six had seen when she'd first arrived on the Maw. He'd been the one to man the machinery in the Prison, bringing the cages of kidnapped children into the unloading bay and confiscating their items one by one. It was at that time each child had been assigned a new name - a number depending on the order in which they'd arrived. As Six had been the sixth child to undergo the Wax Bellman's assessment, she'd been assigned the corresponding name: Six.

Six couldn't even remember her real name, nor anything to do with her life before she came onto the Maw. None of the children could; the Maw seemed to have a strange quality that caused them all to forget who they were previously. _It's not like any of us remember where we came from anyway_, came the echo of Fifteen's voice again. The first memory Six had was waking up in a dark metal cage that was being lowered onto a platform via some kind of crane-like machine. She had looked around and seen hundreds of other cages, some of them occupied by children around the same age as her. But Six had known at least one thing: she'd been captured, and needed to find a way off the Maw. Her raincoat and lighter were her only tools, and the only clues to who she had previously been.

Using her lighter's flame, Six had heated the hefty padlock on her cage until it was scorching hot. When the time had come for the Wax Bellman to open her cage to assess her, he had burned his hand on the padlock. In his shock, Six's cage had been knocked off his work surface and the door had flung open. Through sheer luck, Six had narrowly escaped into a nearby tunnel, and had sought refuge in her Hideout ever since.

Six waited under the desk for several long minutes before she determined nobody was around. She climbed onto the desk and shone her lighter around, looking for clues. On the desk was an ashtray - Six remembered briefly that the Wax Bellman smoked, so this probably _was_ his office. There was also an empty teacup, which she stepped around carefully to avoid rattling it, and a stack of papers.

As quietly as she could, Six leafed through the papers in search of information she could use. On top were some newspaper cuttings about the Maw, which she quickly scanned in the flickering lighter flame:

_The ancient Maw, a mysterious vessel that appears in a different, unknown location once a year to host boatloads of guests at an endless banquet fit for royalty. The great Maw promises a getaway for those looking to escape dreary city life. Its generations of success can be traced back along a noble family line of matriarchs tasked with the responsibility of keeping the vessel running. Historic records indicate the family may have hailed from as far back as Japan's Edo period. With the current leader of the Maw known simply as 'the Lady'_ -

A sound interrupted Six's reading; the scrape of a chair against a floor. Flicking off her lighter, Six crouched behind the tall stack of papers and held her breath. After a few seconds, Six heard a door slide open and a rectangle of light cut across the room from the right. She dared not raise her head, willing herself to go unseen, unheard, unnoticed. Then the light shrank, disappearing completely. Heavy footsteps approached...and then passed, leaving Six in silence and darkness.

After waiting for a few more minutes to make sure she really was alone, Six came out from behind the papers and turned the lighter on once more. Those footsteps had to have been the Wax Bellman's, but where had he come from? The light had come from the right side of the room, but there was nothing but a cupboard over there. No door, and nothing that could produce light. Unless there was something in the cupboard?

Before Six left the desk to investigate though, something she hadn't noticed before caught her eye. There was a corner of a page poking out from beneath the rest of the papers, with some kind of yellow drawing on it. Her curiosity and concern sparked, Six tugged the page out from underneath the rest of them, and was shocked to see a crayon drawing of a girl in a yellow raincoat staring back at her.

The figure had obviously been drawn by a child's hand, meaning the Wax Bellman had probably confiscated it from the Prison. It showed a figure dressed in a raincoat, with the hood pulled over their head to hide their face and a glowing lighter in their hand. It was obviously a drawing of Six; there was no doubting that it was her.

On the back of the drawing, however, was adult-like handwriting scrawled in pen. Six read what it said, her heart pounding faster with each word.

_Name: Six._

_Age: Unknown._

_Gender: Unknown._

_Description: Possessions include a distinctive bright yellow raincoat and metallic lighter. Little else is known._

_Location: Unknown._

_Notes: Last sighted heading west of the Unloading Bay. Highly intelligent. High risk of jeopardy to the Maw. __Capture is of highest importance__._

Holding the edge of the page in the lighter's flame, Six stood over the ashtray and burned the entire thing. Even though the Wax Bellman already knew this much about her, she couldn't risk him having an easily-accessible record of her. At the very least, Six was relieved that the inhabitants of the Maw did not know more about her than the few notes that had been scribbled down.

Six wiped her ash-stained fingers on her raincoat and jumped down off the desk to stand before the cupboard. Opening it up, she could see no light, hear no sounds, or notice anything that suggested the presence of a door. Even so, Six noticed that the cupboard was wide enough and tall enough to allow the Wax Bellman to pass through. The possibility of a secret room was a strong one.

Six searched the cupboard for a hidden lever or button that would open the door, but there didn't seem to be anything. Realising she didn't have the time for this, Six had just given up and was heading out of the office when she stepped on a floor tile that clicked and then sank under her weight. She saw a line of light filter through the cupboard's closed door. There _was_ a secret room after all.

Placing a chair over the tile to keep it pressed down, Six swiftly opened the tall cupboard again and saw that the back of it had slid up to reveal the entrance to a hidden room. There was a wooden chair there, which was what she had heard scraping against the floor, as well as a large, metal eye shape on the wall. Underneath that was a table with a single button on the surface.

Being extremely quick and quiet should the Wax Bellman return, Six pressed the button and the eye blinked open, showing a live image of a room somewhere on the Maw. There were at least three Nomes wandering around there, as well as an open chute that led...somewhere. Intrigued, she pressed the button again. It blinked closed...and then opened again to show a pantry stocked with food. At the edge of the pantry sat a droopy-faced man in a chef's hat, who appeared to be dozing on the job.

Six realised that this eye was a camera of sorts that the Wax Bellman had been using to keep a watchful eye on what was happening on the Maw. She pressed the button a third time and the scene changed once more, now showing a wooden staircase and walls lined with hideous portraits of disfigured adults and children. Another press and Six's breath caught in her throat.

Sitting before a broken mirror, stroking her hair and humming an eerie three-note tune, was the woman from Six's recurring nightmare. She wore the same dark kimono, but her back was turned so Six could not see the white porcelain mask over her face. A little spooked, Six hurriedly pressed the button and the eye blinked shut, hiding the image of the woman from her nightmare. _So, _Six thought. _She is a real person after all, not just some made-up illusion who only appears in my dreams. _Six was deeply unsettled. She knew that she had qualities that made her..._different_...from the other kids on the Maw, but this was something new. How could she keep having the same nightmare of someone she'd never met before? Unless...they had met? Maybe Six had known the kimono-clad woman beforehand, but she had somehow lost that memory of her when she'd come onto the Maw, along with all her other previous ones. Maybe these dreams were the result of Six's subconscious, the deepest parts of her mind, trying to communicate a lost memory with her.

Six didn't know. Overwhelmed with confusion, she shook her head to clear it. Just to be sure she hadn't missed anything, Six pressed the button a final time...and it showed a new scene. A small, lone handheld mirror sitting on a dusty cushion atop a dusty chest of drawers. Who did this mirror belong to? The lady in the kimono? And why was it just sitting there, seemingly abandoned?

Her head reeling with questions and possibilities, Six shut the eye off again and went back through the cupboard, closing it carefully behind her. She took the chair off the tile and made sure to return everything to the way she had found it. Then she moved on, chastising herself for being distracted and careless enough to even spend so long in that dangerous place.

Six soon came across the Janitor's dwelling, using a painting of him in the centre of the room to confirm that it was his more than likely his residence. But Six was reluctant to explore much more in case he entered the space, much like she had only narrowly avoided crossing paths with the Wax Bellman.

Unlocking the heavy door that led to the Janitor's elevator, Six rode down in silence, pondering the clues she'd found in the Bellman's office. The newspaper article she'd read briefly said that the leader of the Maw had been known only as 'the Lady.' Was the Lady the same woman she had seen in her nightmare and through the huge Eye? Six thought it was safe to assume so, given that there was no other explanation for now. It made sense for her to be the one in charge of the Maw: her demeanour, her clothing...and that dark, swirling magic shown in the nightmare...all indicated that she was a powerful being.

_Pay attention._ Six needed to think clearly; she needed to stay focused on just getting out of this place first and foremost. The elevator came to a stop and she exited, finding herself in a fairly narrow corridor lined with pipes. But almost as soon as she had stepped out of the elevator, another hunger attack gripped her with its cruel talons.

Her vision blurred around the edges. With one hand clutching the raincoat's material over her agonised stomach, Six held her lighter out in front of her to guide her along the corridor. She could hardly see anything but the flickering flame. Six was sure she was doomed; there was nothing she could eat around here, right? Growing weaker and weaker with each step, Six's hunger tore through her until she was salivating wildly and her mind became focused on only one thing: food. Regardless of what it was or how it came to her, Six needed something - anything - to sate her hunger.

A metal cage blurred in and out of focus in her field of vision, and she saw a chunk of raw meat inside. Her logical self knew it was a trap, but her starvation ignored it. Seeing only the piece of meat before her, Six put one foot into the cage...and then the other. She snatched the morsel in her hands, shoving it into her mouth and barely chewing before she swallowed. The hunger subsided almost as instantly as it had arrived. But before Six's foggy mind had completely cleared, the cage door slammed behind her - she was thrown forward, hitting her head on the side of the cage.

Everything went black.

_\- End of chapter -_


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: This chapter is quite short, but I made up for that by also releasing the next one (probably one of the longest so far yay)! As always, enjoy!

**Chapter 5:**

**Seven**

Seven and Eight had wandered through the Depths for a while more - going around and around in circles, probably - but they'd only just come across a possible way to escape them. They were standing now at the bottom of a tall metal ladder. Eight shone the flashlight up towards the top, but neither she nor Seven could see all the way up.

The ladder was also child-sized, which was quite unusual. Almost everything that Seven had encountered on the ship had been overly large, tall or wide in some way or another. After all, the Janitor was much larger than the human children, and he needed specially-designed furniture to accommodate his bizarre proportions. Even things the children used - beds, toys and more - were too big for them. It made Seven feel very small and vulnerable, like an insect lost in a world ruled by huge monsters.

Therefore, he and Eight both thought this ladder was very suspicious. But they were also both very hungry: nearly 48 hours had passed since their last meal, and they each had only a sliver of energy left after all the swimming and escaping.

Cold, tired and incredibly hungry, all Seven wanted was somewhere warm and dry to rest, some fresh clothes to change into, and most importantly, something to fill his growling stomach. Maybe he couldn't have all three, but at the very least he needed food. Both children did.

He turned to Eight. "Should we go up?" He asked.

Eight's face was drawn and she had dark circles under her eyes. Her undergarments were still stained and soaked. Seven guessed he looked the same - he sure felt that way. But he smiled at his friend anyway, willing her to keep up hope.

"It seems dangerous," Eight said. "But there's been nothing we've done so far that hasn't been dangerous..." She took a long look towards the darkness cloaking the top of the ladder, craning her neck. Then she looked at Seven with resolve. "So I think we should."

Seven nodded and gripped the ladder, peering up into the vast darkness. "I'll go first," he offered.

"No," Eight said. "I will. You stay behind me."

"But-"

"Please," Eight said firmly, cutting him off. She sounded very tired, at her limit. "I need you to listen to me, ok? Seven?"

Seven hopped back down from the ladder and lowered his head. "Yeah."

Eight put her hands on his shoulders. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that..." she said softly. "I just want you to be safe."

Seven remembered what Eight had said when he'd first met her in the Depths, how she'd felt responsible for protecting everyone. Seven would do his best to listen to her, but he also wanted to protect her too.

He nodded, and Eight gave a weak smile. With the flashlight in her hand, she grabbed one of the ladder's lower rungs and looked over her shoulder at Seven.

"Ok. Just be as quiet as you can, alright?"

"I remember," he answered.

"When we get to the top I'm going to look around first to see if it's safe," Eight said. "Wait for me to do that, 'kay?"

"Yep," Seven said. "I will, don't worry."

Eight began climbing the ladder and Seven followed her up, using the flashlight's guidance to find each rung and grip it tightly. His heart pounded faster as he realised how far up they were: a fall from this height would seriously injure them...or perhaps be fatal. Seven tried to put the thought out of his mind and focused only on climbing hand over hand, getting a rhythm going. He counted each rung as they progressed, giving his mind something to focus on instead of his trembling.

_56...57...58..._

Eight had stopped above him. Seven looked up to see she had switched off the flashlight, and it was the faint light shining through a metal grate in the floor that was illuminating them instead. After Eight had paused for a moment, she pushed open the grate slowly, and climbed into the room, scanning it warily as she helped Seven up.

He crawled out and then quietly lowered the grate back into place, looking around. They were in a room with a dark metal floor and walls. There was no furniture or decoration, aside from the pipes and such running along the ceiling and walls. In the middle of the room, however, was an open cage. Inside was a piece of bread.

"I don't like this," Eight was saying. She was looking around for somewhere else to go, but there was only one door Seven could see, and it looked impossibly heavy, and with no visible way of opening it from inside the room anyway. Spare cages lining the walls were the only other things around them.

"But there's food right here!" Seven whispered, gesturing to the child-sized bread roll in the cage. It was identical to the rations they'd get in the Prison, a reward for working all day at various jobs: laundry, kitchen duty, cleaning machinery…and it was _right there_ \- so easy to retrieve and then divide between himself and Eight. He felt his stomach rumble impatiently at the sight of it.

"It's a trap!" Eight hissed through her teeth.

"Only if we get caught," Seven said. "If I duck in there, grab it, and run back out there's no problem."

Eight was glancing shiftily around the space.

"Eight!" Seven whispered, exasperated.

"No!" she snapped. "I won't let you. You need to listen to me!"

"Stop babying me so much! I made it out of the Prison on my own, remember!"

"Shhh!" Eight said sharply.

"No!" Before Eight could stop him, Seven had run into the cage and grabbed the bread. "See? I can do things for myself, you know!"

Eight was backing towards one of the walls. "Seven! Come back here now! Please!" She begged, her voice low.

Seven scowled, then made to step out of the cage.

"Seven!" Eight screamed suddenly. "No!"

Before Seven could react, the cage door was clanging shut, and he saw the Janitor's long, creepy arms moving above his cage. Fear exploded in his stomach, his hunger forgotten. Seven ran to the cage door and tried prying it open, but it wouldn't give.

"Seven!" Eight cried, then quickly clapped a hand over her mouth. The Janitor heard her, gasping, and shot out an arm to capture her. Seven watched as Eight gave him one last, desperate look, and then she darted out of the way, behind a stack of cages in the corner.

"I'm sorry!" Seven wailed, rattling the cage door again. The Janitor loomed above him, his terrible arms nearing Eight's hiding place. He sniffed the air, trying to track the runaway girl.

Seven realised - the Janitor would be able to smell Eight quite strongly. He _did_ have a keen sense of smell anyway, but he and Eight would both be absolutely reeking of sewage, and easy to locate because of it. Throughout the journey in the Depths, Seven had eventually gotten used to the stench and ignored it, but the Janitor's sharp nose would be able to pick it up from a mile away.

Seven needed to distract the Janitor: throw him off and make him forget about Eight. He was pretty stupid anyway, and Seven thought that if he could cause enough noise and ruckus, the Janitor would leave his friend alone.

Seven began yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs, kicking and shaking his cage to interfere with the Janitor's senses as much as possible. The Janitor grunted in anger and turned his attention from Eight's hiding place to Seven's cage. He picked it up off the ground and shook it side to side, trying to silence the prisoner inside.

Seven lost his balance and fell against one side of the cage, crying out as he bruised his small body. Still, he kept up his chaos. "Eight!" He yelled as loud as he could. "You need to get out of here! I'll see you again, I promise!"

From her place behind the cages, tears flooded into Eight's eyes and she kept her hands over her mouth to stay quiet. She listened to the Janitor shaking the cage - harder than ever now - and Seven's shouts. And then he went quiet. The shaking stopped...and metal scraped against metal as the Janitor dragged Seven away.

_\- End of chapter - _


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I feel like this story has been a tad predictable and slow to take off, but hopefully this chapter can rectify that! Please let me know what you think :)

**Chapter 6:**

**Eight**

Eight continued to weep even long after the Janitor had taken Seven away. She knew the cage had been a trap, and all she had wanted was for Seven to be kept safe. She'd never meant to be so hard on him or to baby him so much. And now he was gone, probably back to the Prison to be locked in one of the rooms for the mad kids.

Drawing her knees up to her chest and burying her face in her hands, the child's tears started afresh. She wanted to give up; it was all just too hard. She was near starving, and so tired and burnt out with emotion. The weight and effort of the previous events - from her decision to escape the Prison, to now - had finally caught up with her. She cried and cried until she could cry no more, then she curled up on the cold metal floor in her damp, stinking clothes, hugging her flashlight tightly. It was all she could do for now...all she could do was sleep…

_I'm so, so sorry, Seven...I'll find you, I promise..._

Eight started terribly when she was nudged awake by someone. Her fatigue evaporating in an instant to be replaced by alarm, she clumsily reached for the flashlight next to her and held it out in front of her as if it were a shield.

In the beam of her flashlight was a small crowd of Nomes. Eight looked down to see that one of them had covered her with a piece of cloth to keep her warm. She looked at it, feeling it absently in her fingers, then back at the Nomes. Realising she was safe now, her fear died down and she switched off the flashlight, placing it next to her.

Eight had seen Nomes before - the little grey creatures even smaller than her, with grey skin and comically large pointy hats that hid their entire head. She'd glimpsed them every now and then in the Prison, keeping close to the edges of shadows and scampering away when one of the children, or the Janitor, got too close. But now they were here, three of them, offering help.

"I'm sorry if I scared you," Eight said soothingly, in the same voice she used to talk to the young kids in the Nursery. "I was just startled, that's all."

She held out her hand coaxingly, the way one might let a cat or dog sniff their fingers before petting them, and one of the Nomes came a little closer.

"My name's Eight," she went on. "Thank you for giving me this as a blanket."

The closest Nome held out their own hand and brushed fingers with Eight. Their skin was smooth, but also lined. The Nome seemed to nod in acknowledgement to her thanks, and the other two came a bit closer as well. Eight wondered how old the Nomes were...even though they were docile and child-like, shambling and skittish...they seemed somehow aged. How long had the poor things been here for? And _how_ did they even get here?

Eight took the cloth and flashlight and stood to her full height, which was quite a bit taller than the Nomes. She looked down at them, seeing them as poor, lost children, and had a strong urge to hug them. Kneeling, Eight extended her arms out to the Nomes. They exchanged wary looks before the bravest one stepped into her arms, followed by the other two.

"Sorry, I know I don't smell very good." Eight said. All three Nomes vigorously shook their heads, and Eight giggled, an uncontrollable grin breaking across her face. She stood again and smiled at the Nomes, feeling lighter and more at ease. She wasn't completely alone, and now they weren't either.

"Can you talk?" She asked them. One of the Nomes shook their head in reply.

"That's ok. Can you show me where you came from?"

The bravest Nome nodded and turned around, pointing to another corner of the room. All that was there was a small cage. The three Nomes shuffled over to it and, as Eight watched, worked together to lift and move the cage out of the way, revealing a small gap wide enough for a child, or Nome, to squeeze through.

Then they stood expectantly, waiting for Eight. She followed them through the gap and was led by the hands as two of them brought her into a small room with several piles of crates. The first Nome pointed upwards, and Eight saw some of the crates had been arranged into a rough staircase, leading up to another gap towards the room's ceiling.

Eight didn't know if she would've had the strength to reach it if she were alone, but the presence of the Nomes filled her with new determination. Following their lead, she slowly climbed up the crates with aching arms and squeezed through the second gap, emerging into a dim space a bit bigger than the first one. There were more crates, as well as piles of cloth and other various bits of trash and treasure. Above them was what looked like floorboards, with dusty light filtering through here and there.

The Nomes seemed to be at ease here, moving around the space and gathering items. Two of them brought Eight a pile of cloth scraps and arranged them into a nest-like bed for her. They eagerly tugged on her clothing and guided her into it, helping her sit down. The third Nome presented her with a can of food. Eight took it in her hands and peeled back the lid. The smell of meat and gravy wafted into her nose, causing her stomach to growl loudly and her mouth to water. With no utensils, Eight used her hands to scoop out the contents of the can until she had eaten all of it. It was the best thing she had ever tasted. She had had food just like this every day in the Prison and had even complained silently to herself about the way it tasted, but now she had never been more grateful.

"Thank you," she murmured, wiping her hands on a cloth. The Nomes high-fived. With a full stomach, the watchful presence of the Nomes, and the comfortable cloth nest embracing her, Eight felt her weariness take over. There was still the problem of her sewage-stained undergarments, but she was almost too tired to care. She could deal with them when she woke up...

Snuggling into the nest, Eight drifted into a deep, exhausted sleep, much more warm and peaceful than her dozing in the room where Seven had been captured. Fortunately, she was too tired and sore to dream, safe from nightmares for at least a while.

...oOo...

When Eight finally woke, she wondered if there was anything she could use as new clothes. She crawled out of her little nest and rummaged around the space for clean pieces of fabric, but when the Nomes noticed what she was doing they shook their heads and tugged the hem of her undergarments, pointing upwards.

"Up there?" She asked. "Can I find something to wear up there?"

The Nomes nodded enthusiastically and led her over to the end of the space where there was light pouring through a gap in the wooden ceiling. Eight realised that she and the Nomes _were_ underneath wooden floorboards and that there was a room above.

The Nomes watched as Eight cautiously poked her head out from the gap in the floorboards. She saw a carpeted floor, a tall shelf stocked with toys, and several wooden dolls posed around the room in various stages of completion. She guessed she was in some kind of woodworking or crafts room, but she wasn't sure who it belonged to.

With the Nomes' encouragement, Eight pulled herself up onto the above floor and looked around. She approached the bunch of dolls and noticed one that was very similar to the one she had left behind on her bed in the Nursery. It had been given to her by the Janitor, since she had always been so well-behaved, and it had been the envy of the younger children. Though it had been ugly and unsettling, Eight had liked having something to cuddle at night.

As she observed the faces of the dolls, creepy and shoddily-carved by an unskilled hand, it dawned on her that perhaps the Janitor had made them. After all, it _had_ been him who had given her the doll. And the faces...judging by how rough and disproportionate they were, they could have been carved by someone blind.

Eight thought about the Janitor in a new light. He had never actually hurt her, and she supposed that the only reason he chased down rebellious kids and set traps for those who had escaped was because he was just doing his job. Whoever his 'boss' was, they had to be someone much scarier and more forceful than the Janitor himself. A Janitor usually had the lowest rank in any given place, but to think that someone as strong as him was most likely the weakest on this ship…

Eight shivered. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and breathed out of her mouth, willing herself to stay calm. But with her eyes closed, she had a horrible memory of the Janitor shaking Seven's cage and was immediately sickened - despite him just doing his job, he was still an enemy who could hurt them.

_Seven… _Eight's heart ached for him, and she hoped that wherever he was, he was ok - or that he would be ok soon. He would've probably woken up in the cage, scared and alone…at least he could've eaten the bread.

_Focus now_, she told herself gently. _Let's get these yucky clothes off and find something to wear._

Eight ended up stripping a dress off one of the dolls and changing into it herself. It fit rather well, a little tight around the middle, but otherwise comfortable. She raised her arms above her head and twisted her body around: she could move in it and that was all that mattered. The dress itself was made of dark purple cloth and fairly plain and simple in design. But it worked, and it was definitely better than her foul-smelling undergarments. She also took the time to let down her hair: combing her fingers through the dark strands, neatly re-plaiting them and then fastening them with string. Feeling physically refreshed, Eight felt her mind become sharper too.

After stuffing her old, soiled clothes in a crack, relieved to finally part with them, Eight explored the 'Doll Room' further. After gazing upon a tall, tall chest of drawers, she decided with finality that this probably _was_ the Janitor's space after all. The Nomes curiously watched her as she searched drawers and shelves to find things she could use or any piece of information that could help her.

She found a small, dusty book titled _Advanced Woodcarving _(which, with her love of books, she flipped through briefly). The book's spine was cracked and many pages had been dog-eared or underlined in pencil, obviously well-loved. The terminology was mostly too difficult for her to understand though, so she placed it back where she had found it. Eight also retrieved a length of sturdy ribbon (which she wrapped around her waist and securely slotted her flashlight into, thinking it may come in handy for something later on), a bunch of stray pins and needles that she inserted one by one into her ribbon-belt (perhaps useful as teeny weapons), and a pair of sewing scissors. Though the scissors were small for, say, the Janitor, the only way Eight could carry them easily would be for her to strap them across her back. Eight thought they would probably be useful for _something_, but at the same time, they would become uncomfortable and inconvenient after a while. Despite wanting to keep them, Eight decided against it and placed them back in the drawer - when she suddenly heard something.

The Nomes scattered and slipped between the floorboards, and Eight frantically looked around for a place to hide too. She climbed into one of the lowest cabinet shelves, with creepy dolls and toys either side of her, and waited.

However, it was not the Janitor that appeared, but someone much tinier. And much more obvious too - a splash of bright yellow against the brown and grey and gloom. Eight realised with amazement and relief that it was another kid...just like her.

"H-hello?" Eight called uncertainly, stepping out from her hiding place. The figure flinched but didn't run or say anything in reply. Eight approached them somewhat slowly, letting the other child get a good look at her. Eight noticed too that they were dressed in a yellow raincoat, with the hood pulled over their head to hide their face. They were also a lot shorter than her, and most likely younger too. They looked like a character out of the picture books Eight had read in the Nursery - so bright and colourful and almost not of this world. And yet here they were, very much real.

"Um...my name's Eight," Eight ventured, trying to sound friendly. "What's yours?"

"My name's Six," the other child answered, in a girl's voice.

"Are you ok? Where did you come from?"

Six pointed behind her, up towards a little vent in the wall that Eight hadn't seen previously. "From there. I just escaped from the Janitor, and the Prison before that." The way she said it was rather nonchalant, Eight thought, as if it had been easy. She stared at the yellow-dressed girl curiously. Something seemed almost familiar about her.

"I think…" she began. "I- I don't know if I've met you before..."

"I don't know either," Six mumbled. "But either way, I didn't know any other kids had gotten this far."

"I escaped from the Prison and then went into the sewers," Eight explained. "I was with one other kid...named Seven. But...well, we got separated. The Janitor caught him. He has a light blue shirt and denim pants, and is about this tall - have you seen him?"

Six was silent, then shook her head. "I don't know. A lot of boys here wear that."

Eight looked down, disappointed. "Oh...well...maybe we could work together. To find him? If…"

"Shh!" Six cut Eight off. Eight froze, and the two girls listened. A door creaked open, and they saw two lanky arms emerge from the shadows.

Six quickly pointed behind Eight, indicating that they should climb the tall chest of drawers at the opposite end of the room. Eight followed Six as she silently crossed the carpet and began nimbly climbing the drawers, finding footholds in the handles and gaps between each drawer.

They were about halfway up when the Janitor heard them. Eight had misplaced her foot and slipped a tiny bit, making enough noise to alert him. He grunted in surprise and hurried to the shelves, working his way from the bottom-up with his spindly fingers. Six, not pausing from her climbing for even a second, glanced over her shoulder and down at Eight.

'Hurry' she mouthed to Eight, who gave a rushed nod and continued climbing after her. Six silently reached the top first and extended her hand to deftly lift Eight up with her. Eight scrambled up, a bit less gracefully than Six, and moved away from the edge.

She turned around in time to see the Janitor's hands stretch towards her and Six's feet, and quietly backed away against the wall. Thinking quickly, she slipped one of the pins out of her ribbon-belt and stabbed it as deep as she could into the Janitor's hand, leaving it deep in his flesh. The Janitor roared in pain and both hands retreated away from the girls. Even Six looked a little surprised. Eight glanced over the edge to see a dizzying drop, and the Janitor cradling his injured hand as he shuffled towards the door and exited the room.

Six nudged Eight's arm and pointed to another vent in the wall. Without a sound, the two girls crawled inside and moved along a narrow, dark tunnel. Eight was about to switch on her flashlight but then noticed that Six had produced a warm, dancing light from her pocket. The flame of a lighter. Eight smiled; it seemed she hadn't been the only one to keep one of her possessions from being confiscated.

Ahead of her, Six wordlessly indicated to Eight that the tunnel ended here and they would have to drop down to the room below. Six switched off her lighter and went first; Eight followed, nearly having the air knocked out of her upon landing. She raised her head to see Six's face right in front of hers, a finger to her lips. Eight watched in terror as the Janitor, just a few metres behind Six, used his long, long arms to lift himself through a hole in the ceiling, and was then swallowed up by the gloom.

"Come on," Six said, her voice barely louder than a whisper. She helped Eight get to her feet and took the lead as they crossed to the other side of the room. Six made to push open a door...but then the entire thing gave way and fell off its ancient hinges, crashing onto the floor of the next room. A grandfather clock was knocked over in the process with an almighty crash loud enough to wake the dead. Eight nearly fainted from fear, her legs shaking dreadfully underneath her.

Without hesitating for a moment, Six seized Eight's wrist in one hand and held her lighter out ahead of them in the other, sprinting as quickly and quietly as she could to the other end of the gloomy corridor before the Janitor appeared again. Eight kept one hand at her belt automatically, ready to wield another needle if the Janitor got too close, but in a life-or-death situation, she doubted a needle would really do much good against such a huge enemy. _Still, _she thought with a wry smile, _even a toothpick-sized weapon is better than no weapon._

Eight's mind was somewhere else, snatched away by terror, as the Janitor materialised out of the shadows above them. He lowered himself down from the floor above through yet another gap in the ceiling and stood in the middle of the corridor, unknowingly blocking their escape route. He sniffed the air, grunting incessantly and still massaging his sore hand. Eight's legs nearly gave way completely. She found herself wondering how a non-human, doll-like monster could even feel pain.

But - seemingly unphased, and with infinite stamina and skill, Six didn't slow at all. Eight wasn't sure if she thought Six was amazing or maniacal as she put on a fresh burst of speed and darted around the Janitor. All Eight could do was run after her and try not to trip as she was led by the wrist. The Janitor roared and stumbled after them, his arms arcing over the floor to find the runaways.

The pair rounded a corner and found that the corridor continued, lined on either side with more rows of tall grandfather clocks. Just as Eight regained her voice, and was about to tell Six that she was running out of breath, a deafening chime rang out from the clocks. The Janitor growled and Eight glimpsed him stop in his tracks to cover his ears. _Of course..._she thought. _With such sensitive ears, the Janitor would be stunned by loud noises._

Six and Eight used this to their advantage, putting more and more distance between them and the lanky monster until they could squeeze through a door at the end of the Clock Corridor. It snapped shut behind them, and Six finally let go of Eight's wrist.

Eight absently rubbed the place where Six had gripped her so tightly and paused to catch her breath. Around them were impossibly tall bookshelves leaning against every wall, and even more books stacked into precarious towers around the room. Six had led her to a dark, dusty library.

Eight glanced at Six, who was leaning forward with her hands on her knees and taking a minute to catch her breath too. Eight was awestruck - just who on Earth _was_ this amazing girl?

"Thank you," Eight panted, convinced that Six was an angel. "You saved my life."

_\- End of chapter -_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

**Six**

With the raincoat's hood hiding her face, Eight couldn't see Six's reaction to those words. She froze for a millisecond, shocked, and then felt warm pride blossoming in her chest. A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. _I saved someone._

But outwardly, Six didn't know how to express her feelings. She merely shrugged. "Think nothing of it," she mumbled. "I'm just glad we're both safe."

The tinkling rattle of a Nome caught her attention, and she saw it run out from behind a stack of books next to her and retreat deeper into the library. Six wasn't phased, having made contact with plenty of Nomes before, and she noticed that Eight wasn't startled by it either. Slowly approaching the Nome, Six crouched down and widened her arms, knowing what it wanted. "Hug?"

The Nome looked out shyly from its hiding place and then shambled into her arms. Six stroked its hat and lifted it off the ground to give it a loving squeeze, then gently placed it back down. She looked over her shoulder to see Eight standing nearby, her eyes downcast.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Eight quickly wiped a finger under each eye - drying tears, Six guessed. Six had never seen a child cry, at least not in her memory, and she wasn't sure how to react.

"Nothing's wrong…" Eight murmured. "Except...I left some Nomes behind in the Doll Room. They helped me after I came out of the sewers and was separated from Seven. I didn't even get to thank them, or say goodbye." Eight let out a soft sob and covered her face.

Six hesitated. She glanced at the Nome she had just hugged, as if it would magically give her the answer to cheering up Eight, then looked back at the crying girl. Then it clicked. "Um...do you want a hug too?"

Eight nodded, and Six shyly wrapped her arms around her waist. It dawned on her that she'd hugged plenty of Nomes, but never another kid. Six had had time to get used to the Nomes, observing how they moved and how they reacted to her: they all more or less followed the same pattern. But all the children she had encountered on the Maw were different. The young boy who'd been caught by the Janitor...Fifteen...and now Eight. She wasn't sure how to socialise with any of them; there was no pattern or rule that she could follow. Not only that, but there was always the possibility that she'd hurt them. Six was torn between avoiding them and helping them. Even if she did save someone, she would only become the next thing to put them in danger.

But Six's entire body ached with longing as Eight's arms returned her hug. It was warm, and she was filled with a sense of security...and belonging. Eight was much taller than her, making the hug all the more cosy. Six flinched as she felt a small pair of arms wrap around her legs, too - even the Nome had joined in. The older girl soon stopped crying and took a step back from Six and the Nome, wearing a small smile.

"Maybe we should stay here for a little while," Eight suggested. "It seems safe, and we can plot our next move. I think the Nome would like some company, too."

Six shook her head, wary of her key principle: don't dwell. She thought of when her next hunger attack might be, and she didn't want Eight to witness that...or to fall victim to it. She'd helped her escape from the Janitor, yes, but Six was worried that if she stayed in Eight's company, something bad would happen. Though it pained her, Six knew she'd have to abandon Eight sooner or later.

She crafted a reply. "I think it's best we keep going. I'd like to find some food." That much was true, not entirely a lie or an excuse. She decided she would help Eight get past the Janitor before her next hunger attack had a chance to strike, find a safe place, and then leave Eight there. Six's eyes roamed over Eight. She was tall with long and fast legs, older than her, and equipped with plenty of tools to aid her. If Six could lead her somewhere safe, she figured Eight would be able to fend for herself after that.

Eight looked slightly crestfallen at Six's response, but then she squared her jaw and nodded, surveying the room for a possible way out. "Ok then. Let's keep moving."

Six craned her neck and followed one of the bookshelves with her eyes. She and Eight would be able to climb up there and take a look around. Eight followed her gaze, shining the flashlight straight up.

"Look at all these books…" Eight breathed, almost to herself.

"Seems the Janitor wasn't always blind," Six remarked.

"No…" Eight agreed. "He must've been quite the reader, judging by all the books. And smart, too. I wonder how he became blind anyway. His face is peeled down over his eyes...I'm sure he _could_ see, once upon a time."

Six shrugged. She had a theory as to how the Janitor lost his sight. It involved the Hanging Man. Six supposed the two had gotten into a violent scuffle over some thing or another. Six remembered the trail of black, tar-like sludge and the large, streaked handprints on the fridge near her Hideout. There had obviously been some kind of struggle. In either self-defence or with the deliberate intention of doing harm, the Hanging Man had ripped the Janitor's face down over his eyes and subsequently blinded him. In retaliation, the Janitor had killed him and then hanged his body to make it look like a suicide, leaving the chair and the envelope nearby. Six remembered how it had all looked so fake, so staged. And hanging someone seemed to be a plausible murder of choice for the Janitor. Whether it was rats strung up by their tails, or furniture suspended from ropes, the Janitor _did_ seem to have an obsession with hanging things. Sure, it was a flawed theory - but Six couldn't be bothered finding more evidence to confirm it. It was merely something she'd noticed in passing as she'd made her way through the Maw. In actuality, she had no concern for the lives of the Hanging Man nor the Janitor. She did not sympathise with the monsters of the Maw.

She and Eight climbed the bookcase and reached the top in relative silence. Once there, Six stood protectively in front of Eight as she heard something. They both watched the Janitor slowly lower himself down from the storey above and shamble into the next room. Miraculously, he hadn't heard or smelt either of the girls. Six supposed he'd given up looking for them, at least not bothering to search this room anyway. Once the Janitor had left, she turned to Eight, who was wide-eyed and shaking slightly.

"Eight, it's ok," she whispered. "Here's what we're going to do. You see that winch right there? There has to be a crank for it somewhere around here. It's connected to this hanging piano, which we can raise up and then run across to get to that vent right there, see? I'm going to go in and find it; you stay right here, ok? If the Janitor returns, climb back down the bookshelf and meet me back at the bottom of the library."

Eight nodded dumbly, trying to keep up with Six's plan. Six took her by the shoulders and re-stated her message. "Just stay here, alright. If he comes back, climb back down quietly and wait for me. Can you do that?"

"Yes," Eight said this time, finding her voice. She nervously met Six's eyes. "Please be careful."

"I will." Not wasting any time, Six entered the next room. There were rows of shelves stocked with the Janitor's treasures - toys, books, jars - things that would cause a lot of noise if she accidentally bumped into any of them. She could see the Janitor nearby, running his creepy fingers along the spines of the books. She wasn't quite within reach of his arms, luckily, but he was close enough that if she made a wrong move, he'd be able to snatch her up in mere seconds.

Taking care not to brush against anything, Six flawlessly scaled the first shelf. However, she realised she had a problem now. There was a thin wooden shelf that she had to cross to get to the next one, and the next after that, but the shelf in question was cluttered with ceramics, metal toys and all manner of noisy objects. She wouldn't be able to squeeze past them all, or jump over them. The only thing she could think to do was approach an object, pick it up, turn around, and place it back down behind her. Doing this enough times would clear a path for her, but if something slipped out of her hands or she lost her footing, she was done for. The only other option was to go across the creaky floorboards, but if she alerted the Janitor to her presence she wouldn't have enough time to climb or run out of his reach. So shelves it was.

Six lifted the first object, a ceramic pot. It gave a slight rattle, but wasn't loud enough to alert the Janitor. She placed it very carefully back down behind her, and then moved on to the next object.

_Halfway across_, she thought to herself after moving several more objects. Still no sign if the crank though. The Janitor was still unaware of her, casually moving about the shelves and touching each book and toy. Six began making her way across the next shelf, picking up a toy monkey with metallic cymbals. But almost as soon as she had touched it, it came to life - whirring in her hands and clapping the cymbals together. Six's heart leapt into her throat. The Janitor roared and rounded the shelf, coming towards her. Thinking quickly, Six threw the monkey as far as she could away from herself. It just so happened to hit the Janitor's shoulder on its way down to the floor, and he grunted in a mixture of shock and anger. Giving up on sneaking, Six ran the rest of the way across the narrow shelf, knocking off several more items as she went. Each one hit the Janitor as it fell, or smashed somewhere around him, giving her a few seconds to get away.

There was an opening in the far wall above her. She wouldn't be able to reach it even if she jumped, but there was luckily a stack of books nearby that she climbed up. Now at the same level as the opening, she dropped through it just as she heard the Janitor round the corner behind her.

She landed inside a new room, a suitcase breaking her fall. Glancing around, she saw more suitcases, a TV - and the crank she needed. She ran over and picked it up, then realised she wasn't able to get it out of the room by going back through the opening again. It was too far up; the only way she could get out was if the Janitor came into the room, leaving the door open. Only at that moment would she have a window of opportunity.

Six switched on the TV and turned the volume dial up to attract the Janitor and to muffle any sounds she might accidentally make. A black-and-white image of a woman, appearing to be the host of a cooking show, flickered to life on the screen. She sang a cheery, gibberish song that was too fast for Six to understand - and she had more important things to focus on anyway. Lo and behold, after a minute of waiting with the crank in her hands, the heavy metal door slid up and the Janitor entered, feeling his way to the TV. Six, standing practically right by his elbow, noticed in passing that a nametag on his chest said 'Roger.' He gave no indication that he had noticed Six, but she waited until he was right in front of the TV, as far away from her as possible. Transfixed, the Janitor ran his hands along the TV, caressing the screen with a grin. Determining that he was well and truly distracted, Six crept out of the open door and back into the room of shelves. She crept all the way back to where she had left Eight, avoiding shards of broken pottery on the floor, and slotted the crank into the winch.

"You did it!" Eight whispered ecstatically when Six returned.

Another proud smile crossed Six's lips. "Yeah. Now we have to hurry. My guess would be that as soon as I turn this handle, the Janitor will hear us. I'll keep turning to raise the piano, and then we'll both jump across and into that vent. Ready?"

"Ready," Eight said bravely. She seemed to have found some confidence; she wasn't as shaky and wide-eyed as when Six had first met her only a short while ago.

"Ok," Six whispered. Working quickly, she turned the crank and the piano began being hoisted upwards. Thankfully, the winch was designed in such a way that it carried most of the piano's weight, otherwise there would have been no way Six could lift it with her own skinny little arms. As predicted, the Janitor gave a bloodcurdling roar that the girls heard all the way from the TV room. But neither of them reacted.

Eight calmly waited as a lookout, a bunch of pins held in her fist, until Six had raised the piano all the way. Once it was level with them, the two girls took a running leap and skillfully reached the piano. They waited for it to swing closer to the vent, their escape, and then jumped again in perfect harmony. Before they entered the vent though, Six and Eight looked briefly over their shoulders to see the Janitor in a fit of rage on the other side of the space. Six grinned from beneath her hood, and Eight grinned back. Then, with triumph bubbling inside them both, the escapees climbed into the tunnel.

...oOo...

Through a rubbish chute and a narrow expanse of steel pipes they'd gone - and now they were being chased.

Six and Eight both sprinted as fast as they could away from the Janitor's arms and towards a sliding metal door that was being held open only by a misshapen metal cage caught under it. Both girls slid under the gap in the door and instinctively ran to the far side of the small space; a second later the nightmarish arms followed them in.

The gap was far too small for the Janitor to come through, but that didn't stop his arms from being able to feel around the entire space. Six pulled Eight towards her, holding a finger to her lips and rapidly scanning the space for a way out. All that was there was a box of rubbish, a cage, and a lidded chute that was too risky to reach without being caught.

Six's dark, intelligent eyes locked onto the squashed cage that held up the door. If she could manage to pull the cage out, while avoiding the Janitor's snaking arms, the door would come crashing down on top of him, severing them. Only then would Six be able to focus on opening the chute.

She began to silently mime her plan to Eight, gesturing to the cage and making a tugging motion. Eight slowly took in what Six meant and nodded. Six held a finger to her lips again, motioned for Eight to stay put, then snuck forwards. The Janitor's arms were still roaming around the space. If she or Eight accidentally brushed against them for even a moment, he'd snatch them up in an instant.

Six weaved between the Janitor's arms, ducking and turning and jumping as if performing some bizarre dance, and reached the cage without being detected. She gripped one of the cage's cold bars in her pale fingers, and was about to tug - when Eight appeared at her side with a face of fierce determination.

In shock, Six's grip on the bar slackened for a split-second. Eight met her eyes, gripping the bar on the other side of the cage and giving a firm nod. The situation wouldn't allow Six to reprimand Eight for not listening to her - instead, she tightened her grip and mouthed to Eight: '1, 2, 3!'

The girls pulled on the bars with all their strength. The cage groaned, and then both bars gave way completely. Six and Eight fell onto the floor. The cage collapsed; the door dropped like a guillotine and Six heard the horrible, wet sound of the Janitor's arms severing. An inhuman scream sounded from the other side of the heavy door, followed by the muffled sounds of the Janitor careening away, colliding with metal walls and pipes as he staggered. Six remained still until the only sounds she could hear were the Maw's eternal creak and Eight gasping for breath. Six slowly got to her feet, helping her up, and turned to face the sight:

The Janitor's arms had been cleanly cut off, still twitching grotesquely where they lay. Two streaks of black sludge stained the door, where it had burst out of the severed arms. Six thought back to the inky handprints she had seen on the fridge - these monsters didn't have 'blood' per se, but this oily tar-like residue instead. She nudged the nearest arm with her bare foot, and it rolled towards her. The inside of the arm itself seemed hollow; no flesh or bone. Six stared, not surprised. The Janitor really was just someone's puppet after all.

"Six…" came Eight's whisper. Six turned to look at her. She was huddled against the wall with her back to the wriggling arms, looking sickened. Eight glanced up at the chute. In the commotion, the heavy metal lid had come loose and swung open to reveal a dark tunnel. "Can we get out of here?"

"Yeah," Six answered, coming back to herself. She climbed up the cages in the corner and into the tunnel, helping Eight up. Eight shone her flashlight into the darkness.

"I wonder where this leads...?"

Six shrugged. She began crawling forwards in silence, ahead of Eight.

"I can't believe we did that…" Eight continued. "Do you think he's dead?"

"I can't say," Six answered. "It's hard to know if he was even alive in the first place." _A monster like me,_ she thought.

"I suppose so," Eight agreed after a silence. "There must have been someone very powerful to have granted him life in the first place. It's like some kind of magic."

Six flinched as she thought of the woman in the kimono who haunted her; the dark particles swirling around her and the eerie, almost hypnotic three-note tune she hummed. "Do you believe in magic?"

Eight considered the question. "Well, with what I've seen...I wouldn't really be surprised if magic was real."

"What _have_ you seen?"

As the girls continued through the seemingly endless tunnels, Eight told Six all about her journey - from her escaping the Prison, to meeting the boy named Seven, braving the Depths and the Granny - all the way up to finding the Doll Room.

Six listened with wordless admiration for Eight's bravery, then also told Eight about her Hideout, and what little she knew about the Maw. But she dared not mention her hunger attacks, or that the masked woman she had seen in the Eye had been in her nightmares even before then.

"_Maw_…" Eight breathed. "I feel like I've heard that word somewhere before...I don't remember what it means, though."

A silence passed. All Six could hear was their footsteps on the metal. She thought of how lonely she'd be when she finally abandoned Eight.

"Thank you for helping me out of the Janitor's lair anyway," Eight said suddenly.

"It's no problem," Six replied curtly. A sprig of pride sprouted in her chest but she pushed it down. She was no-one's saviour. She couldn't even allow herself to be.

The tunnels stretched on even still. Six realised that defeating the Janitor hadn't taken nearly as long as she had first thought it would. It still had to be a while until her next hunger attack, surely. Maybe if they kept up their current pace, Six would be able to stay with Eight for just a little longer until she had to leave her. She was a valuable ally anyway: an extra pair of eyes, smart, and brave when it counted.

In the confined space, Six managed a look over her shoulder at Eight. Eight met her eyes, concerned. "What?"

"Nothing," Six replied, catching herself and looking back ahead. "But...thanks too, I guess, for helping me out."

"Of course," Eight said, a smile in her voice. But Six didn't let herself look back to actually see that smile.

_\- End of chapter -_

A/N: I'd like to credit the Youtuber 'Itsjustjord' for the backbone of the 'how the Janitor became blind' theory mentioned in this chapter. A link to this video can be found here if you want to go check that out: watch?v=NLUUAF8yx9Q


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hey everyone, I hope you enjoy this next chapter! I just want to say that the next few chapters might be a bit slow to come out because I've been super busy with the New Year and I also live in Australia which is under stress with a lot of bushfires (so the air in my region is super smokey and I have some relatives who need attention and aid). I'll do my best to leave only a week or less between each chapter upload, but please don't be too upset or concerned if it's a little longer than that. Thanks for understanding and I'll keep all you lovely readers updated with news! :)

**UPDATE 13/01/20: **Hi everyone! I want to apologise for not uploading for about two weeks, but my family and I have been under a lot of stress with the Australian bushfires. For those two weeks, we've been busy helping out other family members and looking after some young relatives whose parents are busy volunteering/digging fire breaks. But, I'm happy to say that we are all safe and sound and things will return to order in the next day or two! It has been very difficult for me to slip away and have the freedom to write lately, but rest assured chapter 9 will be out soon ;) Thanks for your understanding and I hope you continue enjoying this story!

**Chapter 8:**

**Seven**

Consciousness slowly seeped back to Seven. As he woke - not fully alert, but simply half-conscious - he realised that his limbs were bundled. It felt as if his entire body was swaddled securely in blankets. And…as his senses sluggishly returned...he noticed he was moving. Gently, gently...like a cruising stream, occasionally swinging to and fro as he went. But...why would he be moving?

Everything flooded back. Fearful, Seven tried to open his eyes but his face was covered by some kind of rough, musty-smelling cloth. He realised he was hanging, suspended in space. Mummified, suffocated.

He had to get free. Seven squirmed in the cloth wrappings that bound him and managed to wiggle one arm free. He tore at the cloth with his free hand; his breathing grew shallow with fear, becoming laboured as he struggled to find oxygen with his face still covered.

The cloth around his head and torso came loose and fell away from him. Seven watched as the off-white ribbons of fabric fluttered down, down into a dark void far below his feet. Straining his neck upwards, he saw that above him was a long line of hooks on some kind of pulley system. Some of the hooks were empty; some were strung with cloth-wrapped bundles just like his. The hooks were ascending, swaying gently to and fro as they travelled along.

Seven thought that if he could get the rest of himself free from the tangles of cloth around him, he'd be able to ride the hook and let it carry him along until it was safe to drop down. There was no way of telling how far down the dark void directly under him was. If he dropped down, Seven guessed that at best, he'd be injured. At worst, he'd be killed by the fall. There was no way he'd go down there.

Unless, of course, he slipped. Seven didn't remember what exactly happened, but suddenly he felt the cloth wrappings give way underneath him and he was plummeting down into the shadowy pit. Fear possessed him as he fell; he felt wood splinter beneath him and a searing pain jolted up his spine; then a large pile of coal broke his fall.

Seven couldn't remember the landing very well, but the next thing he knew he was gingerly lifting himself up off the coal. His injury protested immediately, a fresh wave of pain flaring across his upper back. Seven winced and held still, breathing slowly in through his nose and out through his mouth as he waited for the pain to subside.

_Be brave,_ he told himself with his eyes scrunched shut. _Be brave. Be brave for Eight, and for me. Be brave, Seven._

Eight...where was she now? What was she doing...? Was she safe...? Seven imagined her: her gentle smile, her tight hugs, her giggles...and he eventually drifted back into an uneasy unconsciousness.

...oOo…

When Seven opened his eyes again, much more quickly this time, he found himself swaddled in cloth again. Except...he was comfortable, not claustrophobic. He was laying in a small wooden box padded with strips of the same kind of fabric he had been wrapped in. But this time, they made up a bed and not a smothering cocoon. Seven noticed that his shirt had been removed and a 'bandage' was secured around his torso. Who had done this?

He took in his surroundings: he was in a space with a steel floor and walls, tucked safely in one corner. Around him were stacks of wooden boxes like his own, overflowing with fabrics, paper scraps and other rescued items. The floor was littered with...toys? He could hear the soft crackle of a fire and see a beautiful orange glow partially illuminating the space.

Seven sat up to get a better look at where he was - too quickly, because a sharp pain flashed across his back and he gasped, clenching his teeth. There was a dull throbbing in his head too, and he felt very weak.

"Oh! Try not to move…"

Seven peered through the grey light to see a boy about the same age as him jump down from a stack of boxes a little way from where he was, coming towards him with a concerned expression. He wore a long, baggy coat and Seven noticed he was wearing shoes, too. None of the kids in the Prison had worn shoes - most of their clothes from the outside world had been confiscated at the Unloading Bay. Seven briefly wondered why their shoes had been taken away. Maybe it was harder for prisoners to escape if they had bare feet.

"Are you alright?" the boy asked.

Seven wanted to use his voice, but his throat was raspy and sore. Not only that, but he was somewhat bewildered by the boy in front of him. He simply nodded in answer instead.

The boy looked a little relieved. He came closer, passing through the firelight. Seven noticed his hair was dirty-blond, and a curved scar traversed his face, starting at his left eye, going across his nose and finishing at his right cheek.

"That's good," the strange boy said. "Seems like you had a nasty fall, huh? Getting you here took a lot of hands. But don't worry - we'll get you fixed up, buddy."

Seven blinked, confused.

"Oh, my name's Three by the way," the boy said quickly, as if that would clear up any confusion Seven had.

Seven nodded, swallowing, and finally found his voice. "Where am I?" he rasped.

"Oh, of course!" Three extended his arms out, gesturing widely to the whole area they were in. "This is the Hideaway! The place with all the engines that keep the ship running, and where a lot of the Nomes live. Welcome!"

As if on cue, Seven heard the tinkle of several Nomes at Three's exclamation. They came out of the shadows and wandered towards the two boys from all directions, staring curiously at Seven. He'd only seen snatches of the odd little beings throughout his time on the ship, but now he had the chance to finally see them up close. Seven's heart beat faster as he counted at least 10 of them.

Three crouched down and patted one of them on the head, smiling and murmuring happily at them. Then he seemed to remember Seven was there.

"Oh...um, how about I get you some food and water?"

"That would be great," Seven replied. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten, and at Three's words he realised how truly hungry he was. His last meal had been in the Prison; he hadn't even been able to eat the bread roll in the cage before he'd been knocked unconscious. He was starving.

Seven could hardly restrain himself when Three presented him with two aluminium cans and a small spoon. One can had been filled to the brim with water, and Seven drank deeply until it was empty. The other was unopened, full of food. Seven peeled back the lid and ate ravenously, shovelling spoonfuls of canned fish into his watering mouth until there was none left.

Three smiled at Seven once he had finished, taking back the empty cans and spoon. "Hungry, huh?"

Seven nodded, somewhat embarrassed.

Three laughed, and the Nomes around him rattled with him, seeming to laugh in their own little language. The sound was strange to Seven, so genuine and full of humour that it made something inside him ache. A smile formed on his lips; he felt a little better.

"That's ok," Three went on. "Luckily, I have enough food and water for all of us."

Now that he was full, some of Seven's discomfort had gone away too. He was feeling more curious and conversational now. Questions spun through his mind as his eyes took in the place once more, and he wasn't sure which one to ask first.

"Let me guess," Three said, reading Seven's mind. "You've got a lot of questions."

Seven nodded and Three grinned, pulling a crate over from the side of the room and sitting down on it next to Seven's bed. "That's ok. We've got all the time in the world, and it's great having someone to talk to. I'll explain how I got here first."

The Nomes gathered around Three, some of them sitting on the floor at his feet or standing nearby to listen to him. One of them even climbed up into his lap and he cuddled it as he began to speak.

"Well, I don't know where to start, I guess," Three said. "I've been in this place, the Hideaway, for a pretty long time. I escaped from the Prison early on, but the Janitor caught me. I escaped from him too, but as I was running away I tripped on an empty can and cut my face." Three gestured to his scar. "That's how I became blind in one eye and all, y'know?"

Seven looked at Three's face. One eye was pale green, a beautiful, soft colour unlike anything he had ever seen. It made him think of freedom, of a life outside the ship. Three's other eye was milky pale blue, with the scar crossing over it and rendering it blind.

"Anyway, after that I found this place. Some of the Nomes were already here and they helped me recover. I've been here since then, helping them and searching for food and stuff most of the time. There's a kitchen past here where I get all the food, and back that way is the Janitor's lair and the Prison. I also walk around and see if any other escaped kids come along, just like you did."

Seven took in Three's words. "That's amazing...thanks for helping me," he said.

Three looked shocked. "Of course! Why wouldn't I help you? We're the same - we both escaped, both survived - we gotta stick together!"

He grinned at Seven again, then jumped up off the crate, putting down the Nome he was holding. "I'll let you stay here for as long as you want. In the meantime, I'll get you some fun stuff so you don't get bored!"

Three ran off to one side and Seven watched him go. He was practically bubbling with life and energy, unlike anyone Seven had ever met. Three reached yet another small box and pulled off the cloth cover that was draped over it. Then he rummaged inside, bringing out an armful of things that he carried back and placed on Seven's bed: precious books and toys.

Seven looked down at it all, fascinated. "Where did you get these?"

Three shrugged. "Just stuff I find around the place, sometimes in the rubbish chutes. Some of it's kinda broken - like that book has some pages missing and stuff - but it's otherwise ok. You can play with them if you want."

"Thanks," Seven said. He flipped through the picture books and turned the toys in his hands - scratched building blocks and dolls with missing limbs - and he was filled with at least some comfort.

Seven and Three talked and played for a long while, exchanging stories about what had happened to them and explaining all that they knew. The Nomes wandered around too, sometimes settling down to listen to the boys talking, or making towers out of the building blocks.

"Oh!" Three, suddenly remembering something, jumped up from his crate again and ran back over to the box where he'd found the toys and books. He withdrew a crumpled piece of paper and brought it back over, smoothing it out and holding it up for Seven to see. A newspaper article.

"I forgot to tell you this, but this place is apparently called the Maw." He pointed to a black-and-white image of a gargantuan underwater vessel. "It's run by someone called 'the Lady.' I've never met her but she sounds pretty scary."

"Yeah," Seven agreed, looking closer at the image. Three read what he could of the faded article out loud so Seven could hear:

"'The Maw is also affil… aff-ili-ated?" Three glanced at Seven. "Sorry, I'm not a very good reader."

Seven smiled and shook his head. "It's ok, I'm not the best either."

"Um...let's see - 'the Maw is aff-ili-ated with orp-han-ages from all over the world.'" Three frowned. "That's not right."

"Let me have a look," Seven offered. He squinted at the word. "Orphanages," he corrected.

"Oh! Makes sense." Three handed the wrinkled newspaper to Seven. "How about you read?"

Seven agreed and continued, making out what he could of the faded page. "'The Maw rescues disadvantaged children from these brutal orphanages.' Um...this part is really hard to read but it says 'new happy home.'"

"Happy?" Three repeated. "This place doesn't have much happiness."

"Whoever wrote the newspaper is lying," Seven agreed. "Wait...but...does that mean all the kids here are orphans?"

Three was uncharacteristically quiet for a moment, eyes downcast. "I'd say so."

"And we were all taken from these orphanages and brought here? To be prisoners and work every day of our lives?" Seven felt his voice quivering, rising with anger. He'd witnessed injustice, monsters, cruelty. But this was something else. To think that he'd been ripped away from the outside world and brought here to never see the light of day again…

"It's hard to know," Three said eventually. "None of us remember our lives before coming here anyway."

"But how is that even possible?" Seven said, nearly shouting. "How can the Maw even make us forget everything?"

Three shook his head with a sigh. "I don't know. Maybe there's a monster on the ship that has something to do with it."

"Then I'll find them and finish them!" Seven yelled. He finally had the energy to feel angry. The injustice of it all - the fact that he was even in this situation to begin with. Being locked up in the Prison, fighting the Granny, being caged by the Janitor, losing Eight...it was all too much. Tears overflowed, and he cried long and loud. Three hugged him as he sobbed.

"I'm only 10," Seven blubbered. "I'm just a kid!"

"We all are," Three said soothingly, rubbing Seven's back. "But you know what? You've made it this far. You can stay here with me and the Nomes for as long as you want. It's safe and fun here, I promise. And maybe one day we'll find Eight."

Seven shook his head. "No...I want to get off the Maw for good. I don't just want to be safe, I want to be free. I'm going to kill the Maw."

Three was taken aback by the ferocity of Seven's words. Seven looked him square in the eye. "I'm sick of this. I'm gonna find Eight, I'm gonna rescue as many kids and Nomes as I can and I'm gonna get out of here."

Three looked worried. "I wanted that too, but it's dangerous." He gestured to his scar, his blind eye. "It's better to be safe. Even if every day is the same, and we never get off the Maw, at least this place will always look after us. It's not much, but everything we need is here. Food, water, toys, clothes - the Nomes as well."

He looked at Seven with resolve and continued. "How about this. You can stay here as long as you want. I'll look after you until your injuries get better. I can get you food and stuff and sew you new clothes. If you still want to leave once you're better...I'll let you. But I think it's a bad idea. Trust me, I know how easy it is to get hurt and for things to go wrong."

Seven listened to all of this, considering carefully, and then nodded. "Ok," was all he said. The tears had stopped now, and some of his anger had died down with it. It was still glowing inside him, but was more like a strong, steady flame instead of an uncontrollable fire. It was a level-headed determination now, and it was the only thing keeping Seven going.

_\- End of Chapter -_


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Hi readers! Here (finally!) is the long-awaited Chapter 9! I apologise again for it taking so long to come out, but things have been a bit tough with the bushfires and it's been hard to get back into a routine with my writing. Fortunately though, at the moment things are back to normal and my inspiration is pretty strong! Thanks for your patience :) This chapter has Six and Eight journeying through the kitchen, and Six also makes an alarming discovery about her hunger. Reviews would be fantastic if you care to leave one - and as always, please enjoy!

**Chapter 9:**

**Six**

The girls had finally reached the end of the tunnels. With Eight following closely behind her, Six had climbed up a ladder and emerged out into a long, lonely corridor of steel. It was not only wide enough for the two girls to stand in comfortably, but it was also big enough to accommodate a monster even bigger than, say, the Janitor. Even though the Janitor had already been defeated, Six was still wary. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she surveyed the wide, open space.

"Six, look," Eight said, pointing above them. A single metal hook, hanging from an automatic pulley system, glided silently past them. Then another...and another. The two girls followed them to see where they led and came to the edge of the corridor. Below them yawned a deep, dark gap. As Six watched, the pulley system began to ascend as the hooks reached the gap. But she couldn't see far enough across the void to see where they went.

"Watch out!" Eight shoved Six roughly away from the edge of the corridor just as another hook carrying a cloth-wrapped bundle bowled through the space where Six had just been standing. If Eight hadn't have pushed her out of the way in time, it would have knocked her down into the abyss. Six shivered as she watched the hook carry the bundle away.

"Thanks," she murmured.

"No problem," Eight said, wide-eyed. "What do you think that was?"

Six shrugged. "I don't really know." But Six probably had more of an idea than Eight did. After all, once she'd been captured by the Janitor, she had seen him wrapping up dead children from the Prison in cloth and hanging them on hooks that then carried off their cargo. But where did they lead to?

"Come on," Six said. "We're wasting time here. Let's both grab a hook and see where they lead. We might find somewhere where it's safe to drop down."

Eight looked a little scared, but then she nodded bravely. "Ok. There's no point staying here."

The girls waited for two more empty hooks to come their way, and then jumped up and grabbed onto them. Six willed her hands not to slip. She didn't dare look down as the hook swept her over the edge of the corridor...and then it began sloping upwards, away from the shadowy void under her feet.

"Oh my gosh…!" Eight whispered in a high-pitched shriek, and at the same moment, Six saw what she was talking about. Looking to her left, she could see a platform high above them where a stumpy, flabby man in a stained chef's uniform was standing, looking out over the void as he smoked a cigarette. It struck Six that she had seen him before - through the Eye in the Wax Bellman's office. He'd been dozing on the job then, sitting in a pantry overflowing with food. Maybe she and Eight could get some of that food...

Luckily, the Chef was too far away to catch sight of the girls. As Six watched, he dropped his cigarette on the floor, ground it with his heavy boot, and then went through a door behind him, unfortunately travelling in the same direction as the girls.

Ahead of Six, the pulley system came to an end and the hooks dropped their cargo onto a huge pile - no, a mountain - of cloth bundles that had amassed. Six let go of the hook and landed on the spongy pile. She noticed some of them were bloodstained and averted her gaze, turning around to look at Eight.

Six grinned at what they'd just done. "Ok," she whispered. "This way. We need to steer clear of the Chef, alright?"

Eight was rubbing her arms, sore from holding onto the hook for so long. "Right," she said. She began to follow Six down the mountain of meat, heeding the warning to stay alert.

Just before Six had reached the bottom though, a spasm of hunger suddenly tore through her little body and she stumbled, caught off-guard.

_No...no, no, no! _Six begged. _Not now…!_

She tried her best to stand upright again, clenching her teeth against the pain.

"Are you ok?" Eight asked.

"Yeah, I just tripped," Six mumbled, trying to keep pain out of her voice. She kept her back to Eight. If she could just keep going - reach the pantry she had seen through the Eye…she'd be able to eat something…

Six continued forwards, trying to get as far as she could before the next wave of hunger took her. She ran into the next room as Eight called out to her, still stumbling down the bundles of meat: "Hey, wait for me!"

Six had barely made it through the doorway before the next pang of agonising hunger took root in her stomach. She gasped in pain; she felt as if she would die if she did not eat something, anything. Eight caught up to her and saw her hunched over in pain, clutching her stomach.

"What's wrong?" she fretted. "Are you in pain?"

"Stay away from me!" Six said, more harshly than she meant. This couldn't be happening...not now...not with Eight here...

Eight flinched and took a step back. "Maybe I can help you! Tell me what's wrong."

"I need food…" Six's voice was weak, strained. Her legs shook under her and she collapsed onto her knees.

Eight was shocked into speechlessness. "When…? When was the last time you ate...?" Then she blinked, coming back to herself. "Ok...um - I'll try to find you something to eat. So...just stay here, ok? I'll be right back."

Eight began frantically looking around for anything that Six could eat. They were near a kitchen after all - there had to be _something_.

Six watched Eight's figure as she ran deeper into the kitchen, blurring in and out of focus. But Six knew that she wouldn't be able to return in time. The hunger was growing worse by the second.

Trying to steady her breathing as much as possible, Six shakily got to her feet. She couldn't stand straight because of the pain, but she could at least hobble slowly. Her rationality faded, her thoughts instead replaced by a relentless mantra: _Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat!_

Not even remembering how she got there, Six spied a rat that had been caught in a trap. It was still alive and it wriggled, squeaking as it tried to break free. _Eat! Eat! Eat!_

With mindless ferocity, Six grabbed the rat and pinned it down to keep it still. Not to pry the trap off and free it - but to devour it. She opened her mouth wide and buried her face in the rat's neck, her teeth piercing past the dirty fur and into the flesh. The rat squealed, but Six barely noticed, focused only on filling her agonised stomach. Consuming flesh and blood, barely swallowing, until the rat had died...and her hunger had too, for now.

Six regained her senses and quickly stood up, her eyes widening with shock as she registered the dead rat and the blood on her hands and mouth. But...at least it had been a rat, and not one of the cloth bundles...or even Eight.

Six spat on the floor, trying to rid the salty tang of blood from her mouth. She wiped her face on the sleeve of her raincoat and frantically wiped her hands best she could as well. Then she froze. Trembling in the shadows, witness to the whole thing...was Eight.

"Eight…!" Six said immediately, but Eight took a step backwards, her eyes locked on Six. "I-"

Eight was slowly backing away from her, terrified. Six started again: "I promise I won't hurt you! I just...sometimes…" she shook her head. "I have these hunger attacks. I don't know when they're going to happen, or why...but I can't control them. But…I've eaten now." Six tried not to look at the dead rat.

Eight still look scared. She opened her mouth, then closed it again.

"I promise I won't hurt you," Six pleaded. "I've never hurt anyone…"

An unbearable silence passed, so tense it could be cut with a knife, and then Eight shakily stepped out from the shadows. "It's ok," she said weakly. Then a pause. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah," Six said, barely audible. She wasn't able to meet her eyes. Eight came over to her.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get you food in time," Eight said. "But...I think there's a pantry up ahead. If you're still hungry-"

"No," Six interrupted. Eight looked taken aback. "I mean...I can't eat unless I'm having a hunger attack. If I try to eat when I'm not hungry, it makes me really sick. For days. I've tried it before."

"Why does that happen to you?" Eight asked in awe.

"I already said I don't know. But it's happened for as long as I can remember. As long as I've been on the Maw, anyway."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Six looked at her feet. "I didn't want to scare you."

To Six's surprise, Eight hugged her tightly. "How could I be scared of you? You're amazing!"

"But-"

"Six, you're a legend!"

"No, I'm not!" Six shoved away from Eight's arms. "I'm a monster," she said more softly. "Just like the Janitor or the Granny...even that horrible Chef we just saw. Nothing separates me from them."

"Your heart does," Eight said without missing a beat. "You have a good heart. You want to help people instead of hurting them."

Six bit her lip. Was that true? She looked gingerly up at Eight. Her face was genuine. "You really mean that?" Six asked.

"Of course I do!" Eight said. "I'm your friend. Why would I lie?"

Six just shrugged. But that one word echoed in her mind. _Friend. I'm someone's friend?_

"Come on," Eight said. "Why don't we keep moving?"

"Yeah," Six agreed. "I'm really sorry if I scared you, but...I just can't control my hunger."

"It's ok," Eight said gently. "I know. There has to be a way to stop it though...Maybe there's an answer here on the Maw?"

Six had never considered that. She thought of the Lady wearing the kimono. If she was the apparent leader of the Maw, maybe she had something to do with it, and with the memory loss that all the children had. "Do you think so?" she asked Eight.

Eight nodded. "I suppose it's possible...Anyway, we should probably keep going."

...oOo…

As the girls progressed, they noticed more and more of the cloth bundles identical to the ones that had made up the mountainous pile they'd landed on. Neither Six nor Eight said anything about them and continued onwards as if they weren't there. Deep down though, Six was sure that they were the bodies of other children like her, and she guessed Eight had figured that out too.

After a short while, the pair found a ledge high above them as well as a wheeled cart stuffed with more bundles. They wordlessly pushed the cart over to the ledge and cautiously climbed on, ignoring the squishing underfoot. Six saw the pantry that had been shown to her through the Eye - and beyond that, she saw the bulky shadow of the Chef from earlier cast onto the wall.

Though she could not see his actual form, Six could see that his shadow was holding a large meat cleaver, and the noise of his violent chopping filled the room. Her stomach was weighted with dread as she thought about what would happen if either she or Eight were caught.

Six signalled to Eight to drop down off the ledge and crawl under one of the shelves in the pantry. She went first, moving silently and staying near the edges of the space, and Eight followed closely behind her. Once they'd reached the safety of the pantry shelves, they looked around at all the food scattered about. To think that there was so much food here while the children in the Prison only got meagre rations...There were vegetables, various tins and jars, some cans...there was enough food in this pantry alone to stave off Six's incessant hunger attacks for at least two or three months.

She felt a pang of guilt and anger at herself - if she had just been a little quicker, held out just a little longer, she would have been able to make it here to the pantry instead of having to eat a live rat during her hunger attack. Six silently fumed, disgusted by herself again. It was Eight who snapped her out of her thoughts.

"I'm going to eat while I have the chance," she whispered into Six's ear. She was holding a carrot, needing two hands to hold the thing. "Want some?"

Six shook her head. "I can't eat unless I'm hungry."

"Sorry...I know you told me. I just thought I should offer..."

Eight snapped off a piece of the carrot and began eating. She ate slowly and politely, despite Six knowing that she was probably very hungry. She exhibited none of the primal hunger that Six herself ate with. Six turned her back as Eight had her meal, discomfort rising inside her. Even though she could still hear Eight's crunching, she made her eyes focus on something else instead - finding a way past the Chef.

He was still at work when Eight finished, chopping away without pause. Together, Six and Eight crept closer to where he was and observed him from underneath a table. He was using the cleaver to chop large slabs of meat stacked high on his work surface. Every so often he'd turn around and toss a sausage into one of the boiling pots on the woodfire stove behind him, wipe his sweat-soaked brow, and then resume his chopping. What was he preparing so much food for? Surely there weren't _that _many people on the Maw. Only the Prison of children and the monsters they had seen (if the monsters even needed to eat anyway). But then again, this place was so expansive that there was every possibility of more people onboard.

Six glimpsed a bigger area past the room they were in now, where the main kitchen was. She nudged Eight and pointed to the only safe way they could cross the room and enter the next one - by going under the very table the Chef was working at. The table was long and stretched almost from one end of the room to the other. The two girls could duck under it while the Chef had his back turned and use it to hide them as they snuck across.

Eight retrieved some pins from her belt and held them at the ready just in case something went wrong, and she passed a few to Six as well, who stowed them in her raincoat's pocket with her lighter. Six watched the Chef unblinkingly until he turned around and went to the stove, and then she and Eight darted out from their hiding place and scurried under the long table.

The Chef luckily had not heard them, and when he approached the table again he resumed his chopping as normal. Six could feel the wooden table tremoring each time he brought the cleaver down on a slab of meat, and shuddered as she imagined the whole table splintering under the force. With Eight at her heels, she crept to the edge of the table and waited there until the Chef wasn't paying attention once more.

_Go. _Six's scrawny legs carried her out from under the table and she ran directly to the other side of the room before slipping through a gap in the wall. The space immediately opened out into an expansive kitchen with many more stovetops, ovens, tables and at the heart of it all, a smouldering open fire with bubbling cast iron pots easily 10 or 15 times Six's size.

Six wasted no time in crouching underneath a bench, and a few seconds later Eight huddled in with her - but not before she heard the sound of empty metal cans clattering against the tiled floor.

"I knocked them over," Eight whispered fearfully, going as far back under the ledge as she possibly could.

The Chef heard them too. Giving an inhuman roar of surprise, his loud footsteps echoed off the tiles as he quickly approached. Six glimpsed him as he looked at the cans that had been strewn across the floor and then swept his gaze left and right, searching for what could have caused them to fall. He scratched his head, puzzled, and then grunted. Six saw his stained boots and apron as he brushed past the ledge and went deeper into the main kitchen.

Soon after, the girls heard the sounds of chopping, boiling water, oven doors opening and closing...and knew that the Chef was distracted again.

"I saw a door on the other side of this room," Eight whispered eventually. "It looked really heavy though and had a padlock on it."

Six was nodding. "Let's find the key then."

"But where would it be?"

"You saw the elevator back near the pantry, right?" Six asked. "That means there has to be a second floor. And perhaps…" she peered out from beneath the ledge, craning her neck towards the cavernous ceiling. Wooden rafters strung with giant swordfish and great haunches of smoked meat stared back at her. "Perhaps if we can climb onto the rafters, we can reach the floor above from there."

Eight was following Six's plan, her eyes sharp and her mind whirring. She pointed a thin finger towards the opposite corner of the room, where many metres ahead of them sat a tall, open cupboard with shelves that they could climb. From the top of the cupboard, they'd be able to climb onto the rafters. Despite the cupboard being in the open, and the Chef lurking nearby, it was their only chance.

Six scoped out a few hiding spots they could use along the way as they crossed the room, pointing them out to Eight.

"Should we split up?" Eight asked.

"I don't think so," Six said. "Staying together will be safer, I think. Just follow my lead."

"Right. I'm ready when you are."

Six peeked out, locating the Chef. He was standing with his back turned to them, stirring a large pot. As she watched, he sneezed loudly - right into the pot. Six cringed a little.

"It's disgusting to think he's the one who probably prepares our rations in the Prison," Eight murmured behind her. "And most of the time we only get heels of bread or fish tails at that. Where on Earth does the rest of the food go?"

"Yeah," Six whispered back. "It doesn't add up...Let's make a run for it. Under the table with the ladle hanging down from it, ok? Now!"

She darted out across the tiles, avoiding the stray cans on the floor, and slipped underneath the table with no issues. Eight arrived a fraction later, safe and sound. They both listened out for the Chef, but he didn't appear to have heard them. They were now about a third of the way across the room.

Six and Eight crossed to the other side rather uneventfully. When they came to the cupboard, however, they started having problems. Climbing as quickly as they could, Six and Eight were only halfway to the top when the Chef gave a startled grunt. Six spied him fling down his meat cleaver onto his chopping board and then race over to the girls. He was fast, much faster than the Janitor, and gained on them quickly. But luckily, his arms couldn't reach half as far.

Six narrowly avoided his grubby fingers snatching at her ankle as she pulled herself over the lip of the cupboard. Eight was already up there. She'd grabbed an empty glass jar and was holding it above her head with a determined frown, looking down at the Chef as if to throw it.

"Don't!" Six hissed. "You'll make him even angrier. Onto the rafters, quick."

Eight placed the jar back down and made a leap for the rafters, dangling precariously from the wooden beam before she hauled herself up. Six followed closely. She could feel the Chef's hands swatting through the air just below her, but his efforts to seize her were in vain because she was too high above him.

Realising the escapees were out of his grasp, the Chef gave a rageful gurgling noise from deep in his throat. He followed Six and Eight from the ground as they both tip-toed across the rafters, holding their arms out for balance. Six almost wanted to glance down and stick out her tongue at the silly beast, but she stopped herself. She had to focus - and making him angrier would be no help to her. After all, they had to find the key and then come right back into this very room to unlock the heavy, padlocked door.

Avoiding slippery fish heads and stale bread crusts, Six and Eight came to a wooden platform in the rafters, stacked high with crates of cured fish. The stench was sickening; Six held her breath and knew Eight was doing the same as they climbed up the crates and slipped through a metal grate in the wall. They were immediately met with another stench as they emerged out into a dim bathroom.

Something about it struck Six as odd though (even though a lot of things on the Maw were odd). There was not one, but two toilets, and they were positioned right next to each other in such a way that whoever sat on them would be hip-to-hip.

"Yuck," Eight said, voicing Six's own thoughts. "But...two toilets means two people, right?"

"There must be someone else on this floor," Six said. She hoped that wasn't true, but she decided to stay even warier just the same. She couldn't afford to take any chances. "Come on, let's find that key."

The pair exited the bathroom to find themselves in a long, carpeted hallway. Though the Maw couldn't really be described as 'nice', it was one of the more pleasant areas Six had seen on the ship so far. Well, apart from the paintings - disfigured children, unblinking eyes...and a large portrait of two twin Chefs, standing side-by-side.

Six's mouth went dry. Two of them. Fantastic. But that would explain the toilets. Eight took in the painting as well, her face becoming grim.

"Look, here's where the elevator leads," Six said, pointing around the corner. "Stay cautious in case someone comes up."

The girls continued along the hallway, towards a door at the end that stood slightly ajar. From inside, they could hear rumbling snores.

"There's the second one," Six said wryly.

"The key must be somewhere in there," Eight whispered.

"Maybe if we make some noise out here in the hallway, he'll come out and then we can slip inside without being seen?"

"That's a good plan," Eight nodded.

The two girls began banging on the walls and knocking on the door in the hopes that the chef would wake up, come out and give them a chance to get inside while he was distracted. But after a few minutes, the snores went on.

"It's no use," Six said. Her mouth twisted in thought. "One of us will have to sneak inside with him still in there."

"But it's so dark! And dangerous. Wouldn't it be safer to wait it out?"

"That could be hours," Six said. She thought about the possibility of another hunger attack striking during that time. "Besides, I have a lighter."

"What if he wakes up suddenly?"

"Simple. I'll hide. You stay here under this dresser. If he comes out, make sure he doesn't notice you."

Eight was wringing her hands. "Ohhh.._ok_. And if you get caught, I'll be able to come in and jab a needle into his foot or something."

Six smiled. "Yeah." She knew she could count on Eight if she got into trouble. It was valuable to have someone like her by her side, and Six's gut twisted as she thought about her secret plan to abandon her. After they made it through the kitchens...after they found somewhere safe - then she would do it. She had to. To keep Eight alive, and to save her own sanity, she would have to leave Eight before her next hunger attack, or the consequences could be extremely grave.

To Six's surprise, Eight hugged her tightly. The older girl smoothed the younger girl's raincoat, and then stood back, admiring her as if she was her own sister. A few moments passed, and Six felt a feeling bloom in her chest that she didn't have a name for. She would soon realise that this feeling was friendship.

"Be careful," Eight said.

"Of course," was all Six managed to say, still surprised. She remembered what Eight had said earlier: they were friends. Collecting herself, she slipped through the door to the bedroom and found herself immediately surrounded by pitch black.

The warmth of Eight's hug faded, replaced by a deep caution, as Six could barely make out her environment. She instinctively found the wall and crept along it, strongly wanting to use her lighter but scared that turning it on might alert the snoring giant on the bed. If he woke up, Six guessed it would only take him about two strides, maybe three, before he snatched her up in his stubby, yet strong fingers.

Six took a deep breath and focused. The key had to be somewhere in here. She peered through the darkness, willing her eyes to adjust. Surprisingly, after some focus, Six was able to make out clear shapes through the gloom - there was the bed, the Chef's hulking form, a tall chest of drawers - and even the key. It glinted a dull gold from across the room, and Six was amazed that she could see it from that far - surprised she could even see it at all. She'd grown fairly used to finding her way around in the dim and dark, but her vision wasn't _that_ good.

Not taking the time to ponder it, Six made a beeline for the key, ducking under the bed for shelter as she went. The Second Chef snored on, oblivious to the escapee right beneath his mattress. He made some incoherent blubber in his sleep; Six briefly wondered if he was dreaming, and what kinds of things a monster like him would even dream about.

She crept out from under the bed and made her way to where the key hung on a wooden peg extending from the wall. There was a low table she could climb on to reach it, but just as she was about to make the leap, the Second Chef grunted and fumbled in his blankets. Six immediately ran for cover and slid under the bed just as she felt the Chef's eight shift on the mattress above her as he sat up. She heard a click and light flooded the room. Six blinked, adjusting to the brightness as two booted feet swung over the edge of the bed and planted heavily on the floor. The springs of the mattress creaked as the Second Chef stood, and then Six watched his boots as he plodded to the door and left the room.

She allowed a few seconds to pass before she came back out into the open, and then she climbed the table and swung from the key until it dropped off the peg and onto the floor. Holding her precious cargo, Six re-entered the hallway through the fully-opened door and found Eight again.

"Nice work!" Eight whispered. "I watched him go into the bathroom. We should go down the elevator now while he's busy."

Six gave a nod of approval, and after a half-minute or so, the girls had reached the lower floor again without any trouble. They made it to the main kitchen area, where the First Chef was still feverishly working, before anything went wrong.

Six's mouth went dry as she spotted something on the floor ahead of them. Gleaming metal, baited with a cube of raw fish. So tempting, yet so deadly. It struck her with an intense, irrational fear - she would die if she touched it. Six was almost frozen to the floor with fear, but her brain could not process why. She had seen rat traps before, plenty of times. So why was she so utterly terrified of this one?

"What's wrong?" Eight asked in a concerned, yet hushed tone.

Six could hardly speak. She raised a quivering finger and pointed at the rat trap beneath one of the tables ahead of them. Eight's eyes moved slowly across the room, where several baited traps had been set up in nooks and crannies, under various pieces of furniture.

"The First Chef did this…" she realised. "But not to catch rats - to catch us. Luckily we're not starving nearly enough to go sticking our hands in one."

She looked at Six again. "Are you ok?"

"I...um…" Six's legs were shaking terribly. Never had she been so afraid of anything in her life.

Eight's eyes widened. "A hunger attack? I'll bring you some food if y-"

Six shook her head vigorously. "It's not that. It's...the traps."

Eight looked puzzled. She didn't know how a simple rat trap could cause such a strong fear reaction in Six. Sure, they were dangerous enough, but it wasn't like they could grow legs and chase the girls or anything.

"I...I don't know why I'm so scared of them," Six murmured. "I've seen them before...but now-"

Six's mind flashed back to the trap with the rat she had eaten. But instead of the event playing out as per her memory, she found _herself_ caught in the trap, pinned at the neck. She squirmed in terror, her breath fading fast, and squeaked in fear just like the rat had.

Six gasped as she had an epiphany. In her intense hunger, she had somehow, inexplicably consumed not only the rat, but also its very essence. It's instincts that allowed her to see in the dark; its fears that made her irrationally, disproportionately afraid of the rat traps. With its flesh and blood she'd also taken on a piece of the rat's core. It shouldn't make sense, but Six found overwhelmingly that that seemed to be the only explanation. Her hunger ate everything - not just physical flesh but memories, emotions, fears, instincts...it consumed all the primal things within her live victims.

"Six…" Eight's voice was shaking, somewhat distant. "You're freaking me out a bit…"

"Sorry," Six breathed. "But I realised something. The rat you saw me eat...I didn't just eat its meat, but I ate all its essence as well."

Eight frowned. "I don't understand…"

"It seems like whenever I eat something that's alive, I eat a part of its - its - I don't know, its soul maybe? It's why I have a phobia of the traps now. And I even managed to see the key in the room before, even when the room was totally dark. It's because the rat had those things too."

Eight was stunned, silent for a long time. She gazed around the kitchen with an expression that was a mixture of awe and unease.

"There are so many things we don't know about," she said after a while. "So many things on this ship. I think I fully believe in magic now...but I don't think the magic here is the good kind."

_\- End of chapter -_


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10:**

**Eight**

Eight regarded her paranoid friend with concern, devising a plan as she looked from Six's trembling form to the series of rat traps scattered throughout the room. Six was still holding the golden key, their ticket to freedom that would unlock the padlocked door on the other side. The First Chef was still slaving away over the pots and chopping boards. Eight vaguely remembered what Six had told her as they'd progressed through the tunnels between the Janitor's lair and the kitchen - that according to a newspaper she'd seen, the Maw surfaced once a year to host a multitude of guests at a feast fit for royalty. Could this feast be what the Chef was preparing?

"Ok...how about this," Eight said, turning to Six. "I'll lead the way and use my pins to set off the traps as we go. Doing that will alert the First Chef, and while he's distracted we can unlock the door."

Six swallowed. "Mm-hm."

"It's ok," Eight soothed. "If I can manage to set off one, we can run straight to the door and avoid going near the rest of them. You only need to focus on carrying the key and following me; I'll do everything else. Can you do that?"

"Yes," Six said. Her voice was more secure now.

Eight produced a fistful of pins. "Then we'll go the same way we came before. Ready? 1, 2, 3."

Both girls darted out, Eight going first and Six following a touch more slowly. Eight reached the first trap while Six hung back a little at the edge of a table, and then very slowly inserted a pin to trigger it, taking care to keep her hand out of the way. The trap jumped and clattered against the tiles with a violent snap. The First Chef grunted loudly, then let out a crazed wheeze of delight as he realised that one of the putrid little vandals had been caught. How smart he was! The Lady would be very pleased to learn the escapees were taken care of.

The First Chef plodded over and bent at the hip to look underneath the table where he had set one of the traps, eyes shimmering with glee under his droopy mask. And to think he'd done this all on his own without his brother's help! But his face changed from gleeful to aghast and then to rageful as he discovered that his trap was empty and his ingenious plan had failed. He bellowed in defeat, a ruckus that Eight and Six heard even after they'd slipped through the unlocked door and were climbing through a tunnel into the next room.

Six, away from the traps, had recovered from her fear now, and both girls grinned at each other as they relished their success. They moved through a fair few more rooms without encountering either Chef, before they came to another large kitchen area with sinks and dishes galore.

From their position under the floor, Eight and Six craned their necks to see a central table holding a stack of plates covered in soap and suds that reached halfway to the ceiling. Above that was the pulley system that the girls had entered the kitchens on, with hook after empty hook continuing to soundlessly glide through the room.

"We can use the hooks to carry us out of the kitchen again," Eight whispered excitedly.

"Yeah," Six agreed. "But they're travelling in the wrong direction. Unless there's a way to change their direction, we'll have to find another way to escape."

Both the First and Second Chef were in this room too, polishing the towering stacks of plates until they were sparkling clean. They seemed busy enough, but it would be risky to come up from under the floor and look around for a way out. Especially now that Six and Eight's presence in the kitchens had already been discovered, moving around would be dangerous.

There was another room to the right where the hooks were coming from, and the girls decided it was worth investigating. Cautiously, cautiously...they snuck across the tiles while both Chefs had their backs turned, and made it to the next room without being spotted. It was their lucky day - above one of the benches was a switch for the very purpose of changing the direction of the hooks!

Six volunteered to climb up and pull it, while Eight waited underneath the bench, hidden from sight but on high alert with her tiny weapon drawn. She heard a mechanical whirr as the pulley system changed direction, and then Six dropped down and joined her under the bench with a triumphant grin.

Not one, but both Chefs heard the commotion and rushed in. One babbled to the other, making incoherent grunts and wheezes as he looked around, his piggy little eyes surveying every surface for the runaways. The other Chef threw his hands up in the air and stormed out of the room, apparently not having time for his brother's crazy tales of two escaped prisoners. The First Chef gave a defeated huff and waddled out after his brother, but not before giving one last suspicious glance around the room.

Eight stifled a giggle and then prepared to go back the way she came with Six so that they could climb onto the hooks from the piles of plates. Avoiding shattered crockery on the floor, as well as slippery patches of water and overflowed suds, the girls made it to the central table and each latched onto a hook before the Twin Chefs noticed them. They both stood like shocked statues for a moment, no doubt blubbering like fish under their masks, before they burst into shrieks and gurgles. The hooks carried Eight and Six up and away as the Chefs waved their chubby arms and gave pathetic little jumps, trying - and failing miserably - to catch the girls. It was almost comical to behold, and Eight allowed herself to smile.

As the hooks swept them away, Eight watched one of the Chefs disappear through a door and her smile faltered, panicking as she realised that he was probably taking a shortcut to be able to reach them, or perhaps going to some emergency button that would switch off the hooks and bring them to a grinding stop, leaving the girls dangling precariously with nowhere to go.

When the pulley swept them into the next room, Eight's stomach dropped in fear. There he was - standing on a platform ahead of them. The hooks made a sudden dip and would end up passing right by him, allowing him to pluck her and Six out of the air.

"We have to jump off!" Six shouted, voicing Eight's own thoughts. Below them was a metal tub filled with scraps of broken crockery or something - Eight didn't have the time to look very closely. Six let go of her hook first and landed on the pile, then Eight came too, grazing her knees as she made contact with the jagged plates.

Six helped her climb down off the metal container, trying to put distance between themselves and the raging Chef. They'd just made it onto the floor and were beginning to sprint away when they heard an almighty crash.

Eight glanced over her shoulder to see that the other Chef had burst through a door on the same level as them, sending a piece of wooden furniture flying in the process. She giddily ran after Six, sliding under a table just as the heaving Chef reached it too. The girls were granted a few extra seconds to escape as the Chef had to round the table, and by the time he had, they'd reached a stack of crates at the very edge of the kitchens - beyond them was a wide, hungry abyss.

The First and Second Chef were closing in on them now; Eight was sure she and Six were doomed. This was the end, she was sure. The Chefs were much faster, fueled with anger, and would catch them before she could grasp onto the hooks again and cross the abyss. But even so, Eight kept going, blindly following Six. The sound of splintering glass behind her urged her on, and she felt something skim the back of her legs as she climbed onto the crates. Adrenalin zinged through her as she saw Six leap onto a hook above her, and then Eight herself did the same. Her little fingers held on for dear life, and the pulley swept them away for a third time, safe from the monstrous brothers who were left screaming, smashing bottles and stamping their feet behind them.

...oOo…

After dropping from the hooks and silently thanking them for saving her and her friend's life, Eight released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Both girls stood at the entrance of another narrow tunnel, waiting for their heartbeats to calm. They couldn't see or hear the Chefs anymore, and highly doubted they'd be able to cross the abyss and catch them. Yes, they'd been discovered escaping, but at the very least they had survived. That was all Eight could really ask for now.

"I think we should rest for a while," Six said. "This place seems mostly safe, and I haven't slept in a while."

"Ok," Eight agreed. She was feeling fairly exhausted after all those stunts with the Chefs, too. It had been an extremely rushed experience, and she was struggling to piece it all together. "Do you want me to keep watch while you sleep?"

"No, that's ok," Six said. She was facing away from Eight and her voice was small. Probably just very tired, Eight guessed. The girls crawled a short way into the tunnels and lay down in the dim light. The steel was cold and uncomfortable, but it hummed with the soothing song of some distant machinery, and soon Eight felt herself being lulled to sleep.

"Thank you for helping me again," she whispered to Six. But there was no reply. Eight could see Six's form curled up beside her and could hear her breathing, soft and even.

_Already asleep,_ Eight thought. Reassuring herself that she was safe and that the Twin Chefs couldn't reach them here, Eight gradually fell asleep too.

...oOo...

Eight was flooded with heartbreak shortly after she woke. She wasn't sure how long she'd been asleep, but when she blinked open her eyes, Six wasn't beside her.

"Six?" Eight whispered, but only her soft echo answered.

_Maybe she's gone to get food or something, _Eight told herself. _She's ok, I'm sure. She'll come back._

Eight flicked on her flashlight and shone it ahead of her into the tunnel. The tunnel stretched on, empty. There was no splash of yellow, no sound of footsteps or Six's voice announcing that she had just gone to look for a drink or some food.

A seed of worry planted inside Eight's stomach, and it quickly swelled into a fist-sized lump the longer she searched for Six. She continued calling out for her, softly at first, but then daring to get a little louder. There was still no reply, just white noise.

_Maybe she's been taken, _Eight's mind spouted fearfully. _Maybe she had a hunger attack and couldn't find food in time. Maybe she fell from something or got trapped somewhere._

Eight shook her head to banish the spinning scenarios and called Six's name again. She listened very, very carefully for any sign of an answer, straining her ears for the faintest voice or sound of tapping, but as time went on, the only sounds were the Maw's everlasting creak and sway.

Tears welled in Eight's eyes as it finally sank in that she was completely alone. She remembered Six's words to her after she had witnessed her eating the live rat: _I'm a monster._

Deep down, Eight knew Six had abandoned her. Six was afraid of hurting her, viewing herself as a monster just like the ones they had already encountered on the Maw. Eight reasoned that she had left before her next hunger attack had the chance to harm anyone. _She left me so she wouldn't end up hurting me,_ Eight told herself. _It's better this way._

But there was also another small part of Eight that refused to believe Six had left her. They had just gotten separated somehow, that was all. Eight would be able to make it out of the Maw, finding not only Six but also Seven along the way. She would protect them as a big sister, never letting harm come to either of them a second time.

Eight wiped her eyes dry and steadied herself. She had her flashlight, solid and bright in her hand. She brushed her other hand slowly over herself from bottom to top. She had her long legs for sprinting, her dark purple dress, her ribbon-belt equipped with pins and needles, even the lengths of string keeping her plaits in place.

But most importantly, she had her own mind and heart, and that was enough. Her intelligence and her bravery had guided her through many dangerous situations, and her soul had only grown stronger because of it. She had come so far and she could make it even further. She would find both her friends and escape safely.

Eight closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath and imagining her core, her life force, as a bright, burning flame. This was her power, her drive, her everything...

With a forceful exhale, Eight snapped open her eyes and pointed the flashlight directly ahead. She began pressing on swiftly through the tunnel, all determination and grit, acutely aware of the strength of her being.

_\- End of chapter -_


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Hey all :) I know this has been a long time coming out but I've been...sick to say the least and I had surgery yesterday. Momentum on the story has been pretty slow lately, but rest assured I'm never going to abandon this story (or any of my other works). I apologise for how long you have to wait for each chapter but I'd rather put out high-quality chapters instead of rushing through the story in an effort to constantly upload. This chapter is a bit on the short side but I hope you enjoy it!

**Chapter 11:**

**Seven**

Seven didn't know how much time he had spent with Three and the Nomes - there was no way he could track the passage of time on the Maw - but it had been long enough for the pain in his back to subside considerably. He could move around without pain now, which meant he was ready for when he decided to embark further on his journey.

Three had been perched on a crate beside him all the while, keeping him company as he sewed with an oversized needle.

"Where did you learn to sew?" Seven asked.

Three glanced up, then whispered an 'ouch' as he pricked his finger on the needle. "Um…" he said as he popped his finger in his mouth, "well...I'm actually self-taught."

He finished tying off his last stitch and then held up his work - a shaggy, oversized coat made with spare fabric. "For you!" He announced, beaming triumphantly.

"Me?" Seven asked. He'd watched Three work on the coat since he'd started, but he didn't actually think it had been anything for him.

"Of course, silly!" Three chuckled. "I already have one!" He eagerly shook the coat in front of Seven. "Take it!"

Seven reached over and took the coat. It was large and sort of scratchy, but also warm like a hug. It also had big pockets for carrying treasures. The stitches were of questionable quality, but even so, it was a gift he would treasure.

"Thank you…" Seven said with genuine gratitude.

Three was already halfway across the room. "No problem. I'm glad you like it," he said over his shoulder. Seven watched him grab some things from between two crates and carry them over to him, unfolding them and holding them out. A shirt and pants with patches sewn over the elbows and knees.

"I also patched these up when you were asleep before," Three said proudly. "I thought I'd surprise you. Better than your clothes from the sewer, huh?"

_Another_ gift? Seven gently took the clothes. The shirt was long-sleeved and faded green, and the pants were denim jeans similar to his own. Three had probably found these scattered in the rubbish, unused and forgotten before he'd repaired them. Seven wondered who they'd belonged to previously, but then pushed the thought out of his mind.

"I hope they fit…" Three murmured. "Do you like them?"

"Yes! Of course I do. Thank you so much."

"Then hurry up and get changed, stinky! Then we can eat."

...oOo…

After Seven had donned the new shirt and pants and pulled on the coat over the top, he jumped down from his little bed and wandered over to where Three was standing before the far wall. The wall was clad in shadow, and Seven wondered what on Earth Three was staring at. At his feet were two metal cans and a pair of bent spoons, and he was holding a small piece of coal in his hand as he looked thoughtfully at the wall.

"What are you doing?" Seven asked curiously, standing beside him.

Three glanced at him. "Oh! Well...this wall is where I mark each meal I eat." He reached out and gently touched his fingertips to the wall. Seven peered through the shadow and saw that there was a row of dark coal-streaks next to Three's hand. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, he noticed that the markings were not only there, but practically all over the metal wall.

"It's kind of how I track each day," Three continued. "I'm used to eating about two meals in the time between waking up and sleeping again, like what I had in the Prison, so judging by that, two meals are equal to about one day. Each mark on the wall represents two meals that I've eaten - so if I added them all up, that would be the rough number of days that I've spent here."

Seven's eyes followed the wall from bottom to top. The coal markings stretched from the lowest point of the wall and reached almost to the ceiling. There were easily over a hundred streaks, but it would be almost impossible to count them all.

"I've been here a while as you can probably tell," Three said. "I think I arrived on the Maw before you did. They seem to bring new groups of kids to the Prison every time the previous group starts running low. I'd say there were about fifty in my group when we first came. But when the next group came in there were only about twenty of us left. Some died because they got sick or didn't eat enough, some were locked up in the rooms for the 'mad' kids and never seen again, others just...went missing. I don't know if they escaped or if something else happened. I managed to escape just before the next group of kids came in. The Wax Bellman and the Janitor were busy paying attention to them, so that's when I made it out of the Prison. Maybe that was your group."

Three was quiet for a short moment. "It's strange how the numbering system works, too. I became 'Three' when I first arrived, but there could have been lots of other people named 'Three' before me."

"Maybe," Seven said.

"Why do they even bring in kids from orphanages anyway?" Three asked flatly. "It's not like they're giving us a good home here."

Seven's mind flashed to the relentless work he'd had to do every day in the Prison - cleaning machinery, washing laundry, scrubbing dishes…

"They just want us to work," he said. "They take us from the orphanages where we won't be missed and bring us here where everything is 10 times too big and there's no hope of escaping. We lose our memories and then they make us work for the rest of our lives to keep the Maw going."

Seven began pacing up and down along the wall. "There has to be _some_ way to defeat the Maw. It has to have a weakness somewhere. And then once we find it, we can be free."

Three flinched, but Seven didn't notice. "There's no 'we,'" he said faintly. Seven glanced up, stopping in his tracks. Three swallowed, his eyes flickering from Seven's to the floor. "I already told you I'm happy here. It's too dangerous to go any further and get off the Maw. We're both lucky we're not already dead."

"I know that's what you want," Seven said. "But I want to live outside the Maw one day. I want to live in the sun with my memories back." He bit his lip and looked around the space. Some of the Nomes had sensed the tension and were peering out cautiously from the shadows at the two boys.

"I don't want to leave you alone after I just met you," Seven said. "But I want my future to be somewhere else."

Three was nodding. "Yeah, I know." He wordlessly picked up the pair of cans and spoons at his feet. "At least share some food with me before you go."

Seven took a can and spoon and mirrored Three as he sat cross-legged on the floor. They ate in silence, and after they had finished, Three used the lump of coal to mark another streak on the wall.

"Give me your hand," he said to Seven suddenly.

Seven gingerly held out his hand. Three took it and positioned it on a clear patch of wall, then began tracing around Seven's hand with the coal. When he was finished, Seven removed his hand and Three wrote 'Seven' inside the tracing. He did the same with his own hand, tracing so his outline overlapped slightly with Seven's, and then wrote 'Three' in the centre.

"This way I'll remember you," Three smiled.

Seven looked at the two outlines and smiled as well. "Yeah."

"I can show you the way out if you want to go now," Three offered.

"Yeah."

After Seven had shared a group hug with the Nomes, the two boys slipped through a gap in the wall and crossed a dark expanse of space that stretched to the left.

"Beyond here is what looks like an elevator," Three said through the dimness. "I've never really been near it though." He pointed it out with his little hand. Seven squinted through the shadow and saw a wide space where he would have to go to ascend.

"I'll leave you here," Three whispered. "I don't really want to go any further."

"That's ok. Thanks for showing me this far." Seven could just make out Three's features in the lack of light. "And thanks for helping me in the first place and making me the clothes and feeding me and all that other stuff. I couldn't have gotten here without you."

Three didn't reply, but Seven could see him nodding. The blond boy suddenly flung his arms around Seven's neck in a tight hug. Seven felt him heaving as he began to cry, and warm tears spilled down his own face. The boys stayed like that for a long time, hugging and weeping, until eventually Three broke away and wiped his eyes.

"Send me a letter when you make it out of here, ok?" He said, cheeriness returning to his voice.

Seven laughed. "I will. And one for every single Nome too."

Three laughed even louder and gave Seven a gentle shove. "Well, off you go then, buddy! You can't send me anything if you don't leave first!"

Seven tightly hugged Three again and then made for the elevator. He reached the edge, turned and waved one final goodbye, and then jumped down onto the top of it.

A few seconds later, the elevator shuddered to life and began to rise. Seven knew that meant there had to be someone inside it, mere metres from him despite not being in visual range. But the someone in the elevator didn't need to see Seven to know that he was there. No...she could already sense the little nightmare crouching above her, thinking he was hidden.

_Poor little rat,_ she thought to herself with a malicious smirk. _You won't make it any further than the other children who tried to escape me._

_\- End of chapter -_


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12:**

**Eight**

Still filled with a fiery drive that propelled her forwards, Eight had made it out of the tunnels and was approaching what she guessed was the Hull of the Maw. Gargantuan cogs and chains criss-crossed the whale-sized space around her, all mechanisms that would have to have a role in opening the ship's sealed entrance and lowering the gangway.

Eight reached a ladder and began to climb hand over hand, not slowing down for a heartbeat. She was so close now to the top of the Maw, the very exit. Maybe Six had gone this way too - it seemed the only option. And Seven, too. Was he anywhere around here? Her heart clenched at the memory of the cage door slamming shut behind him, and the Janitor's shaking causing him to be flung against the bruising metal.

_But the Janitor is dead now,_ Eight told herself firmly. The thought was empowering; oddly comforting. _Six and I cut off his arms. He can't hurt Seven anymore, and that means he would've escaped from the Lair._

Eight could see light filtering in from somewhere above her and she heard the squawking of some kind of bird. Her breathing quickened. _This means -?_ _I have to at least be above sea level…_

Reaching the end of the ladder, Eight climbed onto a small metal platform as she blinked against the bright light - and found herself outside the Maw for the first time, touched by ocean spray and sunshine. The water sloshed and rocked underneath her, slapping the side of the ship's dark hull. Eight's breath hitched and she lowered herself against the small platform. One misstep and she'd be tumbling into the dark waves. The Depths and the Granny had taught her to have a healthy wariness of water, and she felt a little dizzy as she looked down.

_Focus now._ Ignoring the water for a moment, Eight's gaze travelled up and she noticed a thin black chain dangling before her. She craned her neck and saw that it hung down from the side of the Maw, leading somewhere higher. Even though she was above sea level now, the very top of the Maw was still a long way away, out of sight. She decided she should climb the chain and find another entrance leading back into the ship. It was the only way forward.

The chain wasn't the only thing Eight noticed, however - to her left was a boat dipping up and down on the waves. It was fairly large in size, but looked minuscule in the Maw's hulking shadow. A sloping platform connected the smaller ship to the bigger one, and if Eight squinted through the sunshine she could see a long line of people waddling up the gangway and disappearing into the Maw.

They were awfully large and flabby, of a similar build to the Twin Chefs she'd evaded earlier, and she shivered, relieved that she was a safe distance away from them. As she watched, Eight found herself thinking that there was no end to them. A constant stream of outsiders, shuffling inside and out of sight. A multitude of possible enemies to deal with.

A memory flicked into her mind and she remembered what Six had told her about swarms of guests boarding the Maw once a year to feast themselves into oblivion. Was it that time of year? That confirmed the reason why the Chefs had been preparing more food than any normal person would see in their lifetime.

A bird screeched above her and wheeled into the sky, flapping white wings. It was no bird that Eight recognised, but it snapped her out of her thoughts. She carefully stood up straight, willing her legs to stop trembling, and edged towards the chain. As it swung towards her, she made a leap for it and began climbing once more, not daring to look down.

Her breathing became more laboured and her arms grew weary as she continued the long climb up the slippery surface of the Maw. Eight placed each hand and foot very carefully, making sure she had a proper grip before making her next move. But it wasn't entirely awful. The sunlight warmed her back as she climbed, and melted some of her fatigue and worries a little. She promised herself she would have this again - sunshine, fresh air, freedom - and she would share it with Six and Seven too. Whoever she could rescue from the Maw, Nome or kid, would have the chance to feel this too.

The climb finally ended. Eight took one last look towards the sunny horizon, bid it a brief goodbye, and slipped back inside the Maw. She allowed her eyes a moment to adjust to the gloom, and the familiar smell of dust and cold metal returned.

She was on a narrow pipe. Below her was the gangway that she'd seen, creaking under the combined weight of all the huge Guests who were still trekking deeper inside. Looking down at the tops of their heads, Eight could see that they were dressed in semi-formal attire like ties and coats that strained to contain their bloated wearers. Some Guests also wore masks over their faces. She glimpsed a few painted with monster-like features in bright red, the brightest red she had ever seen. The rest had uncovered faces, sagging and drooping and with small, lifeless eyes. The sight of them made her stomach churn, and she focused instead on simply getting across the pipe and beyond.

...oOo…

While navigating across pipes, between walls and through tunnels like a mouse, Eight noticed a sound. It started off as just another background noise - barely noticeable, no different to the omnipresent hum of the Maw - but soon it developed into a thrumming crescendo that was impossible to ignore. As Eight came nearer to where the Guests were heading, she realised that it was coming from them. A chant. Peering down, she saw them swaying to and fro as they walked rhythmically into a Japanese-style dining area with papery screens, chanting all the while as they found their seats one by one.

Eight strained her ears, but it was hard to pick out individual words when there were so many voices. She caught a few fragments of words or sentences:

_Eat...me eat...me eat…_

Next was the word 'more' or possibly 'Maw' - she couldn't tell.

_Eat...more...more eating...me eat…_

The longer Eight listened, the more she was swept up into the chant. She found her own mouth moving to form the words on her lips, breathing them into the air in harmony with the Guests.

Then she shook her head. _What am I doing? _She had to get out of here. It seemed to her like the Guests were under some strange, hypnotic spell encouraging them to eat and not stop eating. Between the time they took boarding the Maw and now, some spell had been cast over the Guests while Eight had been busy navigating through walls and such.

Eight bit her lip. She somehow wasn't surprised - the Maw didn't seem to follow normal rules after all, what with all the monsters and magic. But this was still unsettling to say the least. Eight wondered if the spell over the Guests was similar to the intense hunger attacks that Six suffered. Had they been inflicted by the same person? And _who_ was the person behind this?

Eight was pondering over this, remembering something Six had told her about a masked woman in a kimono that she had seen through a carved Eye - and when she rounded a corner, she glimpsed the very woman Six was talking about.

Standing motionless on a wooden balcony, overlooking the line of spellbound Guests, was a woman in a deep brown kimono. She stood tall, with something regal in her posture. Her black hair was tied loosely in a bun on top of her head, while the rest cascaded down her back in a glossy curtain. But the most striking thing about her was her mask - bright white porcelain that shone dully in the light, and the two black, commanding eyes that looked out over the scene.

A shiver bolted down Eight's spine and she instinctively flattened herself against the wall. A few seconds of shock passed before she realised she was out of the woman's view - safe behind a wooden screen. She assessed the situation. The woman was still poised like a statue, watching the endless throng of Guests move to the stools in her elegant, yet sombre dining rooms.

Occasionally the woman would raise her hand and give a gentle wave of her fingers. Eight blinked in awe as black particles seemed to swirl from her fingertips and dissolve into the crowd of Guests below, completely unnoticed.

_So that's how they are being controlled,_ Eight thought. _That lady can use magic._

Her work complete, the lady slowly turned and left the balcony. Her kimono was so long that it covered her feet and trailed slightly behind her; she looked like a dark swan as she glided gracefully away. A pair of screen doors closed behind her and Eight wondered how, given that the woman did not touch them. Magic again.

_It's that lady from the newspaper Six read_, Eight thought. _She has to be the leader of the Maw. The Lady. What has she done to the Guests? To the children? And why?_

Eight raced to climb the wooden screen and entered the next room. Guests were seated everywhere, half-hidden behind stacks of meat that they mindlessly shoved into their drooling mouths and swallowed, barely chewing. The noise was disgusting - hundreds of lips smacking, teeth tearing slabs of meat and frenzied gulps and swallows. It made Eight feel queasy and she hurried across the space, thinking of Six.

Poor Six, the little girl who had been struck by this hunger that agonised and crippled her. That she had no way of controlling or foreseeing. A primal hunger that ruined her very relationships with others and made her a danger to them. The Lady had done that to her, Eight was certain.

"Don't worry, Six," Eight whispered out loud, her breath hot and fierce. "I'll get you out of here."

...oOo…

The Guests were mostly too concerned with stuffing food into their gaping mouths to notice Eight, their eyes hollow and dead as they feasted without end. Occasionally though, one would catch sight of the girl as she crossed the shadows and let out an excited gurgle, literally launching across their table and over meats and plates to crawl towards the rare dessert that had entered their vision.

The first time it happened, Eight sprinted as fast as she could through a gap in the wall as the mindless Guest scrambled on hands and knees towards her. Once she'd reached safety, she looked back to see a desperate sadness in his eyes and his chubby fingers straining in vain to snatch her up. Strings of drool dribbled down his chin and onto his own clothes. Eight felt nothing but sympathy for the man.

"I'm sorry I can't do anything to break the spell," she murmured to the Guest, despite him being oblivious to her words. She wondered if this was how Six felt - this maddening desperation, the fear that she would die if she did not consume the nearest living thing.

But the instant Eight was out of sight, the Guest forgot about her and fumbled back to the food that had fallen off the table and onto the floor in the commotion. Eight watched the poor man brainlessly shovel fistfuls of sausage into his mouth, hopeless to continue until he ate himself to death, and she found tears welling in her eyes.

...oOo…

The Lady's residence was dark, but Eight had the aid of her flashlight. Rows and rows of ornate bookshelves lined the dwelling, and she wandered through them in amazement. Perhaps she could scan some of them and learn something valuable. Eight brushed dust from the cover of a heavy book on the floor and opened it up, looking for any useful information...but it was written in a language she couldn't understand. Frowning, she tried another. From the very first word, her attention was captured. This was important - this was what she needed to know!

_Hunger is a primal instinct experienced by all organic and sentient lifeforms to some degree, and can furthermore be manipulated by magick to induce beast-like and agonising 'hunger attacks' which significantly reduce the inflicted target's cognitive function and physical capabilities. As time continues, these hunger attacks grow increasingly frequent and violent until the victim can only be satiated by living flesh and blood, devoid of all rationality and completely overcome by Hunger. Documented cases are rare indeed, as only a very powerful and learned caster can inflict Hunger, but known cases describe vampiric and rabid behaviour in those cursed._

Eight stepped away from the page, her head reeling. She didn't understand all of what was written, but it was enough for her to know that Six's hunger attacks had indeed been cast upon her as a curse. The Lady had done this to her - there was no other explanation. But for what reason would the Lady curse Six?

With the help of her flashlight, Eight quickly read on:

_Even more rarely, this Hunger may be combined with a lesser-known magickal phenomenon called 'essence absorption', wherein the victim develops the ability to consume memories, fears, talents and emotions of the live entities they eat, especially those which were experienced in that entity's final moments. Few cases have come to light, however, it is notable that this phenomenon usually only occurs in individuals who are severely maltreated and have an inherent 'greed' and survivalist instinct about them, as caused by their circumstances. For example, malnourished or severely mistreated people are more likely to develop essence absorption in an effort to help them survive._

Eight's heart skipped a beat. This, absolutely, was also something that affected Six. Her fear of the rat traps, her ability to see better in the dark - all things she'd absorbed from the rat she ate. Eight feverishly flipped to the next page, and the next and the next, but they yielded no way to break the curse. _Was_ there even a way to undo it?

_Oh, Six - where are you?! _Eight thought desperately.

A giggle. Child-like and eerie, hanging in the air briefly before fading like a wisp.

Eight froze, eyes widening. The sound had come from somewhere ahead of her, from behind a stack of books. Eight knew that the voice was not a normal child's - what would another kid be doing around here, _giggling_ of all things? She dared not speak to them - to _it_. Eight stood cautiously to her full height, eyes locked on the stack of books. She slowly directed her flashlight to the book-tower and held it in its beam.

A giggle. Again - louder. From behind. Eight whipped around, pointing the flashlight like a gun and saw the last of a figure's foot disappear behind another book-tower. Black, swirling particles danced around the space, and then faded. The Lady's power.

"Who's there?" Eight demanded. Her voice was raspy but strong.

Yet another giggle answered her, coming from behind the book-tower. Followed by another giggle, and another...coming from all around her. Eight looked left and right, the flashlight trembling in her hands, not knowing where to point it.

She saw a flicker of movement in the corner of her eye, and whirled around to finally see who her new foes were:

A humanoid shadow about the same size as her was creeping out from behind the first book-tower. It giggled menacingly and fixed her with expressionless black eyes, peering out from behind a stark white mask. Particles of the Lady's magic coiled around it as it watched her for a few heartbeats - and then it zigzagged towards her with surprising agility.

Eight yelped and fled backwards, jerking the flashlight towards the Shadow Child and catching it in her beam. It shrieked and stopped in its tracks, throwing its hands up as if to shield its face. But it was inevitable - the light melted away the coils of darkness making up the creature's body, and after mere seconds, the Shadow Child's mask split and crumbled to the floor, vanishing from existence.

Eight was panting. But the other Shadow Children around her were not phased. Two more crept out, hunched like goblins, and giggled as they whispered and teased. Eight swivelled her flashlight, managing to catch one - but the other continued towards her. Keeping the first one in her beam, she edged quickly backwards to avoid the second, but then her back hit a solid bookcase. A hiss sounded in her ears and a third Shadow Child reached its shadowy arm out from the bookcase, groping towards her.

Adrenalin took control as Eight shoved away from the bookcase and dodged the growing number of Shadow Children that were closing in. She sprinted for the exit, the same way she had come into the room, and managed to evade at least some of them.

But they were everywhere, all throughout the Lady's residence and library. Eight ran until she found herself in what appeared to be a wardrobe - or at least a very, very wide room filled with kimono-clad mannequins, smashed mirrors and looming porcelain statues of geisha. The Shadow Children had not followed her here, as she had climbed inside. And to her knowledge, they didn't have the ability to climb after her.

Eight huddled against a mannequin, sitting half-hidden in the folds of the kimono it was wearing, and caught her breath. She vaguely wondered if Six had come this way...and if she had seen the Shadow Children too.

_Six is smart, _Eight told herself. _Smart and tough. If I escaped, so could she. And now I have to keep looking for her and Seven._

As she got to her feet, there was a scream. A high-pitched shriek of rage and wrath that erupted from the next room over, the very direction in which Eight was headed. Her heart jolted in fear, but she realised she was not in any immediate danger - it was not her who had been found.

The Lady was here...and so was someone else.

_\- End of chapter -_


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** Ooooh we're nearing the end of the story; nearly time for the grand finale yay! Let me know what you think of this chapter! :D

As a pre-warning, this chapter has a bit of gore thanks to Six's Hunger.

**Chapter 13:**

**Seven**

Seven saw the Lady's face.

She was standing before a tall mirror with her back to the young boy. Her posture was hunched, with a grief-stricken desperation in her movements. She ran a trembling hand over her bare face, looking as if she was close to tears.

Seven inched closer. It was the first time he had seen the Lady at all, but he knew to be wary of her after all the other monsters he'd encountered on the Maw. He didn't know who she was, or even what her role on the Maw was, but all he knew was that he'd have to sneak past the anguished woman.

Keeping low to the floorboards, Seven moved forwards slowly so as not to alert her. He had his own problems - he needed to cross the room and continue his escape; find Eight and escape the Maw. Despite focusing solely on his mission, he could almost feel the waves of emotion radiating from the woman - a hopelessness, and a tense anger ready to explode.

And then he saw why. After one more step forward, Seven had a clear view of the woman's reflection - horrific enough to make him stop in his tracks. Luckily, he managed to catch the gasp in his throat before it escaped his lips. He put one hand over his mouth and tried to make himself as small as possible as he gazed upon the monster in the mirror. The woman's face was aged beyond comprehension, puffed and drooping with a grey tinge to the flesh. What struck Seven the most was that she looked like the Granny.

_Keep going, keep going…_ With her back turned, Seven knew he had a chance at making it out of the woman's sight and across the room. Less than ten steps. Only about ten steps and she wouldn't be able to see him even if she turned around. _Come on…_ He willed his legs to stop shaking and began to take the next steps forward, crouching low, hardly daring to breathe.

One step...two steps...thr-

A floorboard groaned under his weight. Seven barely had time to register the sound before the Lady caught sight of him in the mirror. A screech filled his ears - unhuman, earsplitting, rageful - before the mirror shattered and the lights flickered and Seven was plunged into darkness.

The Lady had vanished. Seven ran, ran for the room's exit as fast as he could. The only thing he could think to do was escape. He made it to the doorway and continued along a labyrinthine series of corridors. He didn't know which way to go; all he knew was that he wanted to put as much distance between himself and the gruesome woman as possible.

He turned sharply left and right, bare feet skidding on the floorboards as he rushed to find a way out. He thought he heard the woman again - screaming from somewhere in the distance once or twice, or rattling mannequins, but he wasn't sure if it actually her or simply a trick of his terrorised mind.

The darkness ahead of him revealed not an exit, but a wall. Seven slammed his hands against it as he came to an abrupt halt, and then made to turn back the way he had come. Was there no way out of this place? Perhaps there was, but Seven realised he was doomed to never find it.

The Lady had materialised from the shadows, now wearing a stark white mask to cover her hideous face. She glided towards Seven, hands outstretched, and he felt himself lift away from the floor to be suspended in midair as tendrils of shadow snaked around him.

He tried to wriggle free and drop back to the floor to run away, but it was useless. The masked woman knew this too.

"There's no point in struggling, little rat," she hissed. Her voice wasn't like the otherworldly shriek she'd made before, but was instead cold and dignified. Even so, there was a rage that roiled just below the surface.

"P-please let me go!" Seven cried.

"I sensed you before," the Lady continued, ignoring Seven's plea. "I knew you would come this way eventually. What a shame you had to see my true face. You'll die here because of that, just like every other little flea that made it this far."

"Let me go!" Seven repeated, his voice much stronger now. He conjured the last of his bravery and looked directly into her masked face, where her drooping eyes were hidden.

"You have a lot of fight in you," his captor continued, almost teasingly. "Such a shame that it will be extinguished."

Extinguished? Seven froze. What did she mean? Was he going to be killed?

"You can't kill me!" Seven yelled defiantly, struggling against her magic despite knowing his fate. Anything to stall for time, anything to prolong his life.

The Lady laughed. It was a refined, almost elegant sound, but one that sent shivers down Seven's spine.

"I can indeed," she said lightly. "I can do many other things, too." She flicked her fingers and the darkness began to rear and swirl around him. "Watch, little rat, little flea…"

Seven was engulfed. The darkness blocked everything, including the Lady's polished white mask, from view. His body contorted painfully as the blackness whipped into a tornado around him. Streams of it pulled away from the mass and streaked towards him, permeating through his skin and leaving his body cold, cold. Oh so cold. Seven screamed - not so much in pain but out of sheer terror at the unnatural feeling.

Eight heard that scream.

From her perch up on a shelf not far away, she was crouched with hands over her mouth and eyes wide, streaming with tears. She couldn't risk crying out or the Lady would surely capture her too. She had to hide...had to flee before the Lady sensed her, but she was frozen to the spot.

As she watched, Seven's screams very quickly weakened and subsided altogether... and so did the curls of darkness. As the Lady's magic swarmed back to her and faded, Eight glimpsed nothing but a pile of child-sized clothes on the floor.

Seven was gone. Her eyes shifted around the space, trying to locate the little boy. Her friend, the little brother she'd sworn to protect...he was gone. D...dead.

Eight squeaked in her throat and tore her eyes away from the scene, her hands still plastered over her mouth to stop her from screaming. _I have to go, I have to go, I have to go! _It was all she was capable of thinking at that moment. The Lady would find her and kill her too if she did not hurry and find a place to hide.

She climbed frantically back down from her perch, limbs like rubber, and reached the floor. She stumbled blindly, running away to somewhere - anywhere - that was safe.

Her eyes locked onto a crack in a wall and she followed it through, finding herself in a small space with smashed mirrors, cobwebbed mannequins and crates holding folds of dusty cloth. Ignoring the glass shards that littered the floor, Eight huddled between a pair of crates and pulled the edge of a cloth over her, absently wringing it in her hands, trying to escape the reality she'd just witnessed.

Seven was dead. A brave little boy, gone just like that. The events with him and the Lady replayed over and over in Eight's mind, fresh as an opened wound. She could still hear the echo of his screams and pleas, still see the image of the Lady's white mask burned into her brain.

What now? What could she do? Seven was dead, Six had abandoned her without a trace, and the Lady was still somewhere closeby, melting into the shadows. It was hopeless. All of this was enormously hopeless.

_No, come on, Eight. _A little voice in the back of her mind, the flame that drove her. _You've made it this far, you can survive even on your own!_

_No… _Eight answered weakly. She'd failed. She'd failed Seven. He was dead, and even reuniting with Six again was basically impossible. The tears flowed fresh, dripping off Eight's quivering chin.

_You can still be free. Try or die trying._ Eight thought of the ocean, of the sun warming her back, of the white bird she had seen arcing through the soft blue sky. _You can have that again - but only if you don't give up!_

"Giving up is easier," Eight whispered aloud. She was so tired - so tired of fighting and failing and setbacks. She just wanted a break. Just a little break so she could deal with everything and have time to rest. She couldn't even cry freely - she had to make sure the Lady didn't hear her. Everything was so hard, such a paramount effort.

_I just want a break…_ Eight thought. She was so numb. _I just have to wait for the Lady to leave...then I'll keep going...I will...soon…_

The flame wavered as Eight began to retreat inside herself.

...oOo…

**Six**

Six's stomach growled painfully, demanding its next meal of live flesh. She'd made it to the end of the Guest Area, causing some chaos along the way, and now her body was demanding payment for getting her through the throng of disgusting, mindlessly gluttonous guests.

At the end of the hallway she was in, Six glimpsed movement. Something small - perhaps another rat snuffling at forgotten crumbs, or even a Nome. Her mouth watered at that thought, but then she clutched her stomach in an effort to stop it.

_No...I can't...I can't eat a Nome...the rat was bad enough! _

_Why not?_ A familiar voice taunted. _They might be delicious. Juicy and dripping, full of flavour...the best thing you've ever eaten!_

Six lifted her eyes, vision blurring, and saw a shadowy figure standing at the edge of the hallway. _I'm not doing it, _she told Shadow Six.

Shadow Six grinned from beneath her black hood. She was identical to Six herself, apart from the fact that her body was made up of what looked like a solid mass of darkness. She appeared each and every time Six ate, egging her on...encouraging her to sink her teeth into a living being to absorb even more essence, more power.

_Don't you want to get stronger? _Shadow Six teased, moving playfully as Six was starving. _Strong enough to save everyone? You have the ability to gain more power, so why not take it? You won't have to abandon anyone anymore. You'll finally become the hero that you want to be. You'll finally - actually - be the legend that everyone talks about. Isn't that what you want?_

Six found herself at the end of the hallway, seeing double as the Hunger gouged at her insides and reduced her mind to hazy static. A Nome wavered in her vision, standing in the centre of the next room.

_Isn't that what you want?_

Six wasn't aware of the drool that slid down her chin and onto her raincoat. Her arms reached out of their own accord, not to hug the Nome - but to take it, bite it, kill it, devour it.

_That's it...looks delicious, doesn't it?_

Six was panting on the spot, her legs weaker than they had ever been. She wondered why she was just standing there, agonising herself, when she could be feeling tangy blood explode in her mouth, feel the warm flesh slide down her throat...submit blissfully to her Hunger. It was as if she was trying to resist something, but she wasn't sure what.

She staggered towards the Nome; Shadow Six perked up slightly to take in the scene, smiling maliciously. With her last scrap of energy, Six leapt.

_Yes! Yes, Six! _Shadow Six's praise drowned out the Nome's squeaks of terror, but even if she could've registered the Nome's struggling, Six wouldn't have let it go at any cost. Her fingernails bit into the Nome's skin as she used her teeth to tear her way through its neck to reach the sweet flesh and blood inside.

So sweet, so good...Six had never tasted anything so good in her life.

_That's the way...feel yourself getting stronger?_

She was boring into a Nome with her teeth and tongue, devouring the best thing she had ever tasted. Gulping its meat, feeling blood smear across her lips.

_Keep going...listen to your Hunger...very good..._

It _was_ very good. Better than good - a euphoric sensation. Eating this Nome, absorbing everything that was a part of it. Nomes were delicious, Nomes were -

Passive. Friends. Six jumped away from the Nome as if she'd been electrocuted, stumbling backwards and falling on the floor. She whipped her head left and right, looking for Shadow Six - but she had vanished without a trace. The only things around her were the lights sparking from above, and the ripped remains of the Nome slowly oozing blood.

Six would have screamed if her mouth wasn't full of blood. She spat the remaining mouthful out onto the floor and feverishly tried to wipe all traces of blood and gore from her skin and coat. Her reality blurred until the red was the brightest thing she could see - the bright red stains smattering her being, the dark pool leaking from the Nome's corpse -

She didn't want to look. Breathing heavily, she pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes and sat hunched in the corner. With her eyes closed, a flood of sensations flowed through her body and mind: intense waves of fear, despair - a burst of bravery. A vision, a memory, of a woman with a horrific face, suspending her in a swirling storm of black particles. The sensation of shrinking, transforming, changing from child to Nome.

Six rocked on the spot until the memories and emotions had passed. She focused on her breathing...in...out...in...out. She trembled as she opened her eyes, slowly letting reality seep back to her. The meaning of this was crystal clear. The Lady had the ability to transform children into Nomes, and Six had eaten one such child.

Oh, god - had it been Eight? No...because Six would have known. The essence didn't feel like it belonged to Eight, but someone else instead. Fear rose in the back of her mind - maybe it was that boy that Eight talked about, named Seven. She pushed the thought away.

_Don't think of who or why or what or anything else,_ Six ordered herself. _What's done is done. I have to keep going._

For Six had realised something vital. From the Nome's essence, she had discovered the Lady's fatal flaw, the very way to defeat her.

It was vanity. Vanity was the Lady's greatest weakness, and living with her perceived ugliness for so many years had pushed her to the edge. Six had to take advantage of that to defeat her, to save the Maw and all the innocent beings on it.

She remembered the small, lone mirror that she had seen through the carved Eye in the Wax Bellman's office, sitting dusty and forgotten. It would be her weapon as well as her shield.

Six knew what she had to do.

_\- End of chapter -_


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14:**

**Six**

The elevator ride from the Guest Area to the Lady's Quarters was a tense one. Six's mind whirled with thoughts about the Nome she'd eaten, Shadow Six, the Lady. She tried to push aside things that were unhelpful to her, but within a few seconds they'd return, buzzing around in her brain like stubborn gnats.

Right now her sole focus was the Lady. Defeating her. Killing her? Six didn't know how she would go about taking the life of someone that powerful. She'd killed the Janitor, sure (or at least she _believed _she had; there'd been no way to confirm that the puppet-like monster had actually _died_) - but how would she face off against a woman who had the ability to change children into Nomes, conjure shadows with a flick of her hand and who probably had a whole other set of powers as well?

The elevator doors slid open with a hiss, and Six glanced left and right before darting into the new room and taking shelter under a small table. She needed to work out a plan, and quickly. The fate of the entire Maw rested on her shoulders. She thought of Eight, waking up scared and alone after she'd abandoned her. She thought of Fifteen, the boy in the Prison's cafeteria who had almost given up hope. Not to mention all the other children she'd caught sight of or heard about on her journey - the young boy who she'd tried to shush, who had been taken away by the Janitor. The boy Eight had been escaping with, Seven. Even the Nomes who sat hunched or wandered aimlessly in circles, waiting for a way out. Their lives were in her hands now. This was something she had to do alone.

_What happens if I fail?_ Six asked herself. _If the Lady kills me or turns me into a Nome, what happens next? Children will starve, the Guests will keep eating and nothing would have changed. _Six steeled herself with a deep breath. _Only I can do this. Only I know how to bring the Lady down. If I can defeat her and...and absorb her essence...then I'll know how to get me and everyone else off the Maw._

_But what happens if you become like her?_ A small voice countered her own.

Six knew what it was saying, what it meant. If she defeated the Lady and took her essence, then she'd gain some of the Lady's power and knowledge - power and knowledge that would help free everyone from the Maw and undo at least some of the evil and injustice that thrived all around her.

But...she'd also absorb some of the Lady's weaknesses. Fears. Motivations. Personality. Evil. Six shivered. Would she lose her sense of self? Her identity? Would consuming the soul of someone that powerful be too much for her tiny body? Shadow Six might become even stronger with the Lady's essence, so much so that she overtook Six herself and harmed innocents in an effort to gain more power.

Six crouched under the table for a long time, weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of taking action against the Lady. Her legs were aching by the time she'd made her decision and formed her plan. She focused only on succeeding - she didn't allow thoughts of failure to cross her mind.

Six straightened and cautiously came out from underneath the table, rubbing her aching legs. To her left was an open doorway which yielded a carpeted staircase made of dark wood, like she had seen through the Eye. Padding slowly into the space and setting foot on the first stair, Six felt as if the portraits hanging from the walls were staring right through her.

They were even more hideous in person than they'd been through the Eye. Children with fixed, permanent grins that looked more like pained grimaces; adults with puffy eyes and grey-tinged sags of skin; bloodshot eyes that bore into her like drills.

Six knew now why the Lady had these paintings decorating her rooms. It was for the same reason that she let the grotesque Guests onto the Maw, and why the Janitor and Twin Chefs were so uncomfortable to look at. The Lady needed to surround herself with ugly things and ugly people in order to feel beautiful.

Once upon a time she probably _had been _beautiful, upholding the traditional, polished elegance of a geisha. But Six guessed that as she aged, the Lady's beauty had started to falter. Her hair would have greyed; wrinkles would have lined her skin. Perhaps the Lady had tried to cover up these imperfections by using magic and donning the white porcelain mask so she didn't have to look at her reflection.

Six reached the top of the staircase and carefully followed the wall to where another door stood slightly open. From inside, she could hear someone humming a melancholy, yet strangely inviting tune. It was familiar in her ears - Six took a few seconds to place it, but then realised that it was what she had heard through the Eye. The image of the Lady came back to her, the one with her sitting before a smashed mirror and stroking her long hair as she hummed the very same three-note tune.

Six's chest tightened uncomfortably. _I can do this,_ she told herself firmly. _I can defeat her, but first I have to find the mirror…_

Six snuck into the room and tip-toed across the carpet. She put almost all her attention on the way she lifted and placed down her bare feet, doing so in a way that would cause minimal noise. The Lady was mere metres away, engaged in her humming. If she heard Six the consequences would be dire. Not completely known, but dire.

Six inched closer and closer towards the Lady. She'd just have to pass her and get into the next room to continue her search for the small mirror - that was all. Simple. The sound of her own heartbeat pounded in her ears, and Six was convinced the Lady could hear it too - but peeking up from beneath her hood, the Lady didn't appear to know Six was there.

Step after painstaking step and Six had eventually crossed the threshold into the next room. A breath that Six didn't know she'd been holding slowly released itself, and she allowed her shoulders to drop and relax a little. She didn't dare come out of her crouch though. Just because the Lady couldn't see her now didn't mean she couldn't hear her.

A small, simple bedroom was what surrounded Six now, with a four-poster bed and a desk holding a porcelain vase decorated with a single blue eye. All this eye imagery was creepy, to say the least. Everything from the carpet to the wallpaper seemed to stare into her being in a way that deeply unsettled her. Her thoughts roamed to the Wax Bellman's carved Eye. Was she being watched? Were there times when she had been?

Six took in a quick, steadying breath of air. The sooner she could leave this room, the better. She had to find the dusty little mirror, and then she would be able to face off against the Lady.

Six had no idea if the mirror would work, or what role it would play, or how or why it even existed - but it was her only shot. Some hunch, some intuition made her believe it would be the way to defeat the Lady, and all she could do was trust it. A lot of things on the Maw happened that way. Six had just been following her instincts the whole time she'd been here, just like all the other kids, or so she assumed. She didn't have anything else to go on. And her instincts hadn't failed her yet. What was one more fight, one more enemy? She could do it - she _would_ do it.

Six searched the room for the mirror, but there was nothing that resembled it. She remembered the image of it she'd seen: dusty, forgotten, surrounded by dark. It had to be somewhere else, surely not here. Were there any little nooks or crannies around that would lead to it? Six looked...but no. The only other place that could possibly lead to the mirror was a padlocked door at the bottom of the stairs. But to get there she'd need a key, and to sneak back past the Lady, who was still humming incessantly.

The repetitive drone of her voice was intoxicating, and Six felt if she stayed there too long it would fog her thoughts. She ordered herself to stay on task. To find the mirror, the key. But where?

Her eyes locked onto the porcelain vase, and the painted blue eye stared back at her. Would a key be in there? It was worth exploring, and she'd exhausted all other options. Six hesitantly came out of her crouch, standing to her full height, and hurried over to the desk. She deftly climbed up, her hands and feet silent on the polished wood, and peered inside the dark vase.

Something gold glinted dully back at her. A key! Six stretched out her little arm, reaching down towards the bottom of the vase and straining her fingers to grab it, but it was just out of reach. She huffed and tried again. Even with the lip of the vase at her underarm and her fingers straining at maximum, she was _just_ shy of the key. She stood on tip-toe, reaching as far as she could and leaning most of her body over the vase's opening.

The vase wobbled in protest, closer to the edge of the desk than was safe. Six felt it tip too far - just a fraction too far - and her eyes widened in alarm as she mouthed 'No!'. And then it toppled off the desk, causing her to lose her balance too.

The vase hit the floor first and smashed into dozens of jagged pieces; Six came abruptly after, landing gracelessly on the pile of broken shards. At least the height from which she fell had not been impactful enough for the shards to cut her, and landing on her stomach in the raincoat had protected her from most of the sharp edges.

She was slightly winded, but Six almost ignored that factor when she laid eyes on the tarnished golden key before her. Maybe breaking the vase had been necessary, just not the tumbling down after it. Either way, she had access to the key now. Six caught her breath, scooped up the key and made to creep back past the Lady when she noticed something - or rather, something missing.

The Lady had stopped humming. In the excitement, Six must have missed the exact moment it stopped, but she guessed that the Lady had heard the vase smash and was somewhere around here...waiting. The hairs on the back of Six's neck stood up. Still, she continued to crouch and sneak until she'd reached the locked door.

The padlock fell off with a heavy thud, causing Six to cringe a little - she was supposed to be _quiet_. She maneuvered around it, pushing open the door (which, irritatingly, gave a creak). Six was hyper-alert now, head up and all senses in overdrive. The Lady was here, she was somewhere here, and she knew Six was here too. This was it. No going back now.

_Find the_ _mirror, find the mirror! _

Her environment was dark. Dust stuck in her throat, itching, and she resisted the urge to cough. She sensed that the space was a narrow yet long corridor. She'd have to draw out her lighter to see, even if it meant giving away her location. That's if the Lady didn't already know where she was...

Six pulled the lighter from her pocket, jumping slightly as she pricked herself on something else within the raincoat. She flicked the lighter on and used it to illuminate what was in her other hand. A bunch of pins. Of course...Eight had given her these in the kitchens. A hollow sadness settled in Six's stomach at the sight of them. She wanted to feel Eight's hugs again, hear her giggle, see her smile and just be in her company again.

And she would, she promised herself. She just had to do this first.

Six boldly ran deeper into the room, using her lighter to illuminate the cobwebs and stone-still mannequins lining either side of the narrow space. Some of them wore masks identical to the Lady's, and they were about the same height as the monster herself. Perfect doppelgängers. Six tore her eyes away from them and looked only ahead. Her tiny feet kicked up puffs of dust as she hurried forward, and she wondered how long this room had been forgotten. But courage flared inside her - judging by her dark, dusty surroundings, the mirror had to be close by.

The door slammed shut behind her when she was about a quarter of the way across the corridor. It slammed even without being touched by anything. But Six didn't let this slow her down - she kept running.

Even when the Lady materialised seemingly out of nowhere and glided across the floor behind Six, she kept running. Wisps of shadow, the same particles of blackness that Six had seen in her nightmare of the Lady, flickered in the corners of her vision. Six dared not look over her shoulder; the rattles and shivers of the mannequins were the only indications that the Lady was still silently stalking her.

Almost to the end of the corridor, but where was there to go now? A shelf-lined wall loomed before her in the darkness, and Six spied a tiny opening underneath it. She'd barely made the decision to slide under it before her feet took action. She flicked off the lighter briefly while she skated across the dusty floorboards and crawled out into the next room.

A black, smoky haze chased her through and she coughed, fanning it away from her eyes so she could see - but the Lady was nowhere in sight. Six had had the vague sense that the Lady had vanished into thin air as she'd slid into the next room. She wasn't able to watch the scene fully, but she was fairly certain the Lady had teleported in some sense before hitting the solid wall, disappearing in a cloud of dark mist.

Six flicked on her lighter again and ran straight, the only direction she could go. The corridor soon opened into a wide, wide room, almost like an abandoned wardrobe fit for royalty. More ancient wooden mannequins stood posed around the room, still draped with dark-coloured kimonos. Six skirted around a few that lay knocked over onto their sides, feeling cobwebs snag across her knees.

No time to worry about those now, because she knew where the mirror was.

A boarded-up space had caught her eye and she raced over to it, tugging on one of the wooden planks until it flew off and knocked her backwards. Crawling inside, Six found a small room that was somehow even more dusty and forgotten than the previous one.

And...lo and behold was the same little mirror that had been revealed to the young girl through the carved Eye. As Six climbed onto the low table and stood over the mirror, she had a sense of something like fate or destiny, but she couldn't put a name to it. Staring into her own blurry reflection, she lifted the mirror and used her sleeve to wipe off the dust. Her heart raced in anticipation. This was it. It had to work.

Brimming with child-like invincibility, Six bravely stepped out of the boarded room carrying her new weapon and shield. Had she been a child with a typical upbringing, maybe she would have felt like a knight going into battle; like a hero in a fairytale off to slay a dragon. But Six had no knowledge of fairytales. Instead, this was simply her life. Just the next chapter in her long journey of escape.

Upon returning to the wide room, Six spotted a tall, dark figure standing towards the far wall. There was a carved wooden Eye above her; Six thought fleetingly that though the Lady was the leader of the Maw, maybe even she was trapped here like those she imprisoned.

Either way, Six was still determined to do what she had come to do. She approached the Lady with the mirror held before her - but there was no crouching or creeping. No hiding. Six felt nothing but bravery - perhaps a dangerous bravery - but it faltered slightly when the Lady spoke.

"Little rat, little flea…" she said calmly, oh so calmly. Her voice was quiet and level. She didn't turn around to look at Six from beneath her mask, but instead looked towards the carving of the Eye. "My little canary…"

Six raised the mirror, sensing a trap. But the Lady made no movement to hurt her.

"Do you feel it?" The Lady asked. Her voice was scarcely above a whisper. "Our bond? Did you dream of me?"

Six flinched but said nothing. Her stance didn't falter, despite the mirror being nearly as big as her.

"Curser and cursed," the Lady continued as if Six was not there. "But I never suspected you'd live to actually lay eyes on me." She gave a low laugh, the sad chuckle of someone in despair. "The Hunger was only supposed to deter you; to weaken you, if not kill you entirely. I never foresaw that it would be combined with essence absorption. That's something you developed all on your own, little canary…"

There was a tinge of anger in those last words; the Lady's voice raised just a fraction and betrayed her emotion. Six didn't completely know what she was talking about, but at the words 'essence absorption' she immediately thought of Shadow Six.

"What are you talking about?" Six dared to demand, struggling to keep a tremor out of her voice. It was the first time she had spoken directly to one of the Maw's monsters.

The Lady merely chuckled, but her back was still turned. "You're smart, little Six. Smart enough for me to have the need to curse you, to slow you down in your escape. But there are many things you still don't know. Many things you'll never know."

Six's question had still not been answered. She was about to form a reply, trying to articulate words in her mind, but the Lady spoke again.

"I admire your bravery," she said smoothly. "There was a little boy here earlier who had a similar bravery. But I did away with him. Was he your friend?"

Six made no answer, but her stomach clenched to think that a child had slipped through her fingers, that she hadn't been able to save him. The Lady seemed to sense this, and went on.

"Why do you try to escape, little canary? The outside world is a terrible, senseless place...more terrible than the Maw itself. There is no hope for you. Did you want to get out of here with your little friends? The other little rats? Is that what you wanted?"

"That's what I _will _do," Six said defiantly. Her voice was laced with an anger she couldn't bite back.

"Oh? And I suppose you'll think of yourself as a hero then, won't you? Little Six wants to be the legend in the crayon drawings. How naive and foolish you are. Tell me, has your Hunger made you hurt any of the other little fleas yet?"

Rage was brewing inside Six's small body like she was a cauldron of poison soon to bubble over. She bit her lip, holding back a string of retorts that would otherwise come spilling out. The Lady knew she'd opened a wound on Six, and was shaping her words to rub salt into it. The calmness in her voice had been overtaken by sharpness. Her tone was unlike anything Six had ever heard: strong and commanding...yet slow and matter-of-fact.

"Things will not change even if you escape the Maw, Six. Outside is a cruel, cruel world where you'd die in an instant. Crushed like the measly flea you are. The little things you call friends would die too, at your own hands. Your Hunger will not go away just because you leave here. At least on the Maw you have a role. Had you behaved and not escaped, you would've served the greater good."

"Is that greater good keeping your disgusting face under that mask?" Six spat, all self-restraint gone. Her words were vicious, crafted to sting. "Is that why you have the Maw? Your paradise where you can see all the ugliness around you and feel better about your own? You wouldn't leave the Maw even if you could - you fear the outside too much, you fear people knowing your secret. You're trapped here just as much as anyone else you f-"

Too far. The Lady whipped around fast as lightning, shadows erupting from every inch of her being and arcing towards Six like sentient spears, shot out with the intent to puncture, to murder - but as soon as the Lady's mask became reflected in the tiny mirror, a brilliant white light flared from its surface and scorched her and the tendrils of darkness.

Six hardly knew what had happened - she'd thrust the mirror in front of her as protection, scrunching her eyes shut as the blistering white light burst from the mirror. The shrieks of the ancient geisha had reverberated through her tiny body and the force from the mirror's power had thrown Six backwards.

She lay now on the grimy floor, panting heavily and tingling with shock. The Lady had vanished, but Six didn't hesitate to scramble to her feet and pick up the mirror again, which was completely unscathed. She held it before her again, its glassy side facing into the dark space, and waited with hushed breath. She couldn't begin to fathom how the mirror was working, but now wasn't the time to even consider it.

Silent seconds passed, crawling by like centuries. Six remained in her defensive stance, looking carefully both ways in case the Lady crept into her peripherals. The darkness around her had seemed to somehow, inexplicably, become darker still.

Six heard a rush of air behind her and faced it as quickly as she could as she shielded herself with the mirror. The Lady glided past her like a wolf circling a newborn fawn, but all Six could see of the Lady was her ghostly white mask. Then...without another word or movement, she vanished again, cloaked by her shadows.

The afterimage of the mask swam in Six's vision as she turned 360 degrees on the spot, anticipating the Lady's next strike. Her breath misted in the air; it had grown suddenly colder.

Another rush of air to her right, and Six pivoted instantly towards it. The bone-white mask was upon her but Six was ready. The mirror captured the Lady in its surface and the scorching white light shrivelled her shadows, her power. She staggered back with another scream and transformed into a cloud of black mist.

Six gasped as she was flung backwards again by the mirror's power, but wasted no time standing back up. She hardly had time to recover though, for the Lady swooped in from the left this time, and Six only just managed to swivel the mirror towards her before the shadows pierced her. The Lady fought as hard as she could to get closer to the tiny raincoated girl, but she could only take a single step forward before the mirror's power proved too much. She backed off again, camouflaging into the shadows with an unhuman growl of frustration.

"You're just a _child!_" The Lady's shriek seemed to come from everywhere but nowhere, crowding Six's mind.

Once, twice, thrice more the Lady struck, growing more and more determined each time she appeared, and more and more rageful each time she had to retreat back into the gloom. Her hellish screams were a crescendo of hatred and grievance, but only Six and the forgotten mannequins bore witness to them.

The final time the Lady struck, Six readily turned to meet her and shoved the mirror outwards. The mirror did its work, reflecting the Lady's mask and sending out rays of vivid light. There was a violent shriek of pain; the splintering of glass. Six and the Lady were both thrown backwards. Six's little body hit the floor and blackness engulfed her.

...oOo...

She didn't remember losing consciousness, but when she woke, the Hunger was tearing at her insides. Six slowly took in the scene, reality quickly returning - albeit hazy from her curse. The mirror lay shattered beyond repair, surrounded by hundreds of tiny glass splinters.

The Lady was still here, back underneath the carved Eye. Six could hear her panting on her hands and knees. The mirror had proven too much. Six staggered as she regained her footing, clenching her teeth against a sharp pang in her stomach. She needed to eat, and her meal was a few steps away.

The Lady's kimono had come loose, exposing her pale neck and shoulder. Her hairstyle had fallen apart in the battle; black hair cascaded down to the floor in sweaty tangles. Her porcelain mask lay in halves a few metres away from her. She knew her time was running out, but never did she think that she'd be bested by a child.

Six saw a trail that had been cut through the dust, and the Lady's dark kimono hanging dishevelled from her thin frame. She had evidently tried to crawl away from Six but was too weak to move any further.

But in her Hunger, Six didn't notice the tears that the Lady shed behind her curtains of hair, or the small, sad smile that stretched across her delicate lips. She didn't notice the minuscule way the Lady's arm moved aside to let her come closer, the consensual movement that seemed to say: _Feast, little canary…_

As Six leapt for the Lady's neck and began to devour flesh, blood and essence, she didn't notice that the Lady lay motionless under her, not attempting to struggle or fight back even once. Only when Six's thoughts had cleared did she notice the Lady's expression: soft...almost peaceful. Not quite happy...but peaceful. Her face was beautiful, worlds away from the gruesome vision of the face that Six had seen after eating the Nome. Six guessed that only mirrors had the ability to nullify the Lady's magic and show her true face, but at any other time, she appeared young and beautiful. Even so, the mask had still been a vital precaution in keeping her secret safe.

Like the Lady, Six felt peaceful too. Not sad, not happy - simply relieved that her actions had been successful. There was no triumph, no jubilant excitement. Just relief, peace and perhaps some level of emptiness.

_You don't seem as pleased as you should be, little canary._

Shadow Six's voice was behind her, mocking. She twirled mischievously around Six, bounding over to the Lady's body and splashing her feet in the crimson pool of blood as if it were a mere puddle to play in. Though the Lady had been her enemy, something about it angered Six. But she detached and remained calm. She ignored Shadow Six's antics and walked back over to the shattered mirror, kneeling to inspect it.

Shadow Six pouted and skipped over to Six, standing by her side. Six noticed that she didn't leave any footprints, despite having just walked through the Lady's blood.

_You'd be wise not to ignore me, little rat,_ Shadow Six said in a sweet sing-song voice. Under her childish tone, Six picked up an unmistakable warning. _I know you're trying hard to stop it, but the Lady's essence will kick in veeery, very soon. And do you know what happens then? _

Six tensed but didn't speak. Shadow Six grinned under her black hood, showing equally black teeth.

_Then I'll have full control over you._

_\- End of Chapter -_

**A/N: **Phew, this took a while to write but hopefully you enjoyed it! I'd love to know what you thought! Stay tuned for the aftermath of the Lady's death lol ;)


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15:**

**Eight**

Eight had somehow dozed off, her body shutting down due to pure exhaustion and grief. When she woke she jolted awake unnaturally, as if her mind was screaming at her: _Wake up! Remember what you have to do!_

Eight took a moment to centre herself. She was still in the dusty little room in the Lady's residence, sheltered underneath a draping piece of cloth. Glass glinted faintly on the floor and shattered mirrors and stray mannequins loomed like an audience of giants, never moving or speaking, but watching her all the same. She wasn't sure how much time had passed, or if the Lady was still nearby, but she needed to do something, needed something to distract her from the memory of losing Seven.

Eight sat up properly and wiped her eyes as she reached for her flashlight. The familiar curve of it under her hand was a welcome reassurance, and so was her ribbon-belt, even though she had fewer pins now than she'd started out with.

She sighed sadly as she thought of Six, who she'd worked together with to get through the Janitor's Lair and the Kitchens before she'd suddenly left. But Eight had made a promise - she would get out of here with Six and feel the warm sun on her skin again. She'd already failed Seven - he'd died because they got separated - but she could at least reunite with Six and be with her as they escaped the Maw and explored beyond.

The thought gave Eight the courage to shakily get to her feet and approach the door. She stood at the edge, listening intently for any sign of the Lady. There was only silence. Maybe the Lady wasn't here anymore, and if so Eight would have a chance to hurry out of this place and to somewhere safer.

She slipped out of the room as quickly and quietly as a cat and crept out into an open space lined with bookshelves. She stayed close to the walls, to the shadows, and didn't dare use her flashlight in case the Lady caught sight of her because of it. She kept all her senses trained on any sign of the Lady or Shadow Children...but, strangely, as she crossed the room there wasn't a single trace of either. Eight was smart enough to not let her guard down for an instant though.

She came to a point in the huge residence where she'd have to choose a new direction. Going right would lead her back to the place where she had seen the Lady kill Seven, and Eight wanted no reminder of that horror. She quickly chose to go left instead, down a narrow, dim corridor. She used the sparse furniture - cabinets, small tables, the occasional statue of a geisha - as hiding places as she darted along the corridor. She reached the end without any trouble (still no sign of enemies...none at all) and paused under an ornate table to catch her breath. In the next room was an elevator.

Eight cautiously moved to the doors. Beside the elevator was a button that would open them, which, like most things, was way too high up to reach. Eight positioned herself under the button and threw her flashlight up towards it. She managed to catch it on the way back down before it thudded against the floor, and glanced back up to see the button had been pressed and was now glowing a soft white.

"_Ha!_" Eight couldn't help giving a breathy whisper of triumph as she saw that her plan had worked first-time. Her joy was brief though because a slit of light appeared between the elevator doors and she fled back to the table in case the Lady was standing on the other side of them.

As they parted though, Eight was relieved to see no-one was inside. But her suspicion had been raised, too. Where had the Lady gone? And the swarms of Shadow Children? It was too quiet. Like the place had been completely deserted. Eight's skin prickled. She wanted nothing more than to get out of this place.

She sprinted into the elevator before it closed, slipping away from the doors before they could snag her dress or an arm or leg. Eight tucked the flashlight back into her ribbon-belt and waited for the elevator to move. The ancient thing gave a shudder...and then began to descend deeper into the Maw.

_No, no, no! I want to go UP, not down!_ Eight panicked as the elevator dropped. How far back into the depths of the Maw would it take her? Would she end up somewhere she'd already been and have to claw her way up to the top again?

But the elevator had not gone far at all before it came to a halt.

Eight sighed in relief and prepared to rush out as soon as the doors parted, ready to run to a quick hiding spot where she could get her bearings. But as the doors slowly opened, her breath caught in her throat at what - or rather, _who_ \- was standing before her.

A girl even smaller than herself, dressed in a yellow raincoat with the hood pulled over her head.

_Six!_

At the sight of her, a flood of words rose in Eight's throat, clambering over each other in an effort to be blurted out first. Eight didn't know where to begin - there was so much she had to tell Six: that she forgave her for leaving her in the tunnels and understood why she did it, that the Lady had a dark magic she was using to control the Guests, that she'd used her magic to kill Seven, that she'd found a book about Six's curse -

"Six! I -" Eight's head was reeling. Of all the things she wanted to say, she tried to pick out what was most important. "The Lady! I saw the Lady and she - she has this power, Six! This magic that she used to give you your Hunger!"

"I already know," Six said. Her voice was raspy, barely audible.

"And there's a book I saw about your Hunger, back up in -" Eight froze as she took in Six's words. "You already know?"

Six was staring at her feet. "There's a lot of things I need to tell you too."

Eight paused, ready to listen. Six took a deep breath and blew it out through her mouth. It was clear she didn't know where to begin either.

"Well. I..." Six sighed. "First of all…"

Eight listened, her eyes glued on Six. She'd never seen her this way. The raincoated girl had always been so sure of herself - never muddled or confused. Eight paid full attention to what Six had to say. Whatever it was, it had to be important for her to be acting like this.

"So...you probably worked out that I abandoned you in the tunnels," Six began. "It's because I was scared of hurting you with my Hunger. I just...I just wanted to get you through the Janitor's Lair and the Kitchens safely, and then I thought you'd be ok on your own. I want...to save people. But I can't. Not with my Hunger. I'm sorry."

Eight was in disbelief. "Six…" she began gently. "You _have _saved people. You saved me dozens of times. Your Hunger isn't something you can control, but you're a good person anyway. Remember when I said you have a good heart?"

Six just nodded, still staring at her feet.

"Well that's still true," Eight said firmly.

"...I don't think it is," Six said very quietly. "I did something bad. After I left you in the tunnels."

"What was it?" Eight asked softly. Her heartbeat quickened a little, but she remained calm for Six's sake.

"I ate…" Six shook her head. "I got hungry again in the Guest Area and there...was...a Nome..."

Eight's eyes widened as she understood what Six had done. "You couldn't help it," she said automatically.

"But I liked it," Six whispered. "While it was happening...I enjoyed it."

Eight lapsed into silence. She pretended she hadn't heard what Six just said.

"And after I ate the Nome, I discovered the secret to defeating the Lady," Six went on suddenly, her tone growing stronger as the words poured out. There was something feverish in her voice, something feral. "I killed her too. I killed her with my own teeth. I ate part of her."

"What?" Eight yelped. She couldn't help it, the word had slipped out. She unconsciously began backing away.

"She's dead now," Six said. There was something dangerous in her voice, some dark force that seemed to be gaining power. "I took her life myself and then stole her essence. She's dead now. I'm stronger. We can get off the Maw."

Eight didn't know what to say. Her brain seemed frozen, unable to articulate a reply. She was scared. Not necessarily scared of what Six had done, but scared of how she was describing it. Almost like she was proud of her violence, her Hunger.

_If...if she ate the Lady...she must've taken some of her essence, too. Some of her power and magic. And maybe some of her...her evil._ Eight's blood ran cold.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden mechanical groan; a resounding, metallic echo swelling from the depths of the Maw. Eight jumped. Even here, this far away, the girls could hear the echo clearly as it shuddered through the colossal ship and vibrated the floor under their bare feet.

"What was that?" Eight squeaked.

"There's no time for you to show me the book you found," Six said urgently. She seemed to have snapped out of her sudden dangerous mood. Her voice had its usual tone; her words were normal too. "That was one of the Maw's engines failing. Without the Lady here to keep things running with her magic-"

Eight's eyes widened. "The whole ship will fail!"

Six nodded. "The Lady's magic is all throughout the Maw. Without her here to renew all the spells, the Maw could sink in a matter of hours. We need to evacuate the Prison and get as many kids out of here as we can."

"But the Wax Bellman is still around! And the Chefs, too! And the Guests - you've been to the Guest Area, right?"

But Six was striding past Eight, into the elevator. "Don't worry about them," she answered, ever sure of herself. Eight had no choice but to sheepishly follow after her.

...oOo...

The elevator led the girls back down as far as the Guest Area, but couldn't take them any further.

Working as a team once more, Six signalled to Eight and they crept up to one of the thin screen doors. Inside the next room, they could hear a throng of Guests slurping and gulping and breaking crockery as they scrambled to grab fistfuls of meat. Eight thought briefly back to the gigantic tubs of broken plates that she'd grazed her knees on in the Kitchens. She couldn't imagine the cleanup after such a feast.

"There's another elevator across this room that will lead to the Kitchens," Six said confidently, and Eight wondered how she knew that. But then it clicked - the Lady's essence and knowledge would be guiding her.

Eight wondered if the Lady's spell over the Guests was still holding strong. If she was dead now, the effects would be wearing off now, right? Is that how it worked? If the failing engines were any indication, the Lady's magic wasn't eternal. Maybe the Guests would come out of their incessant hunger eventually...she hoped.

"How do we get across the Guest Area again though?" Eight asked, keeping her voice low. "It'll take forever and it's so dangerous! We need a plan."

Six appeared to be deep in thought and didn't answer her question. Eight was about to speak again when Six suddenly approached a tear in the screen.

"Stay behind me," she murmured over her shoulder. She slipped through the tear and vanished inside. All Eight could do was gape in shock at Six's recklessness, then hurry after her.

Eight instinctively began edging along the wall, trying not to draw attention to herself, but did a double-take when she spotted Six walking confidently right into the midst of the crowd of Guests.

"Six!" Eight hissed, as loud as she dared.

Six either didn't hear her or ignored her, walking right between two tables. A Guest sat at each one, both busied with eating themselves into oblivion. They'd see her - they'd see Six and launch off their stools towards her.

"_SIX!_" Eight was panicking, but she kept her back glued to the wall. Six knew what she was doing, surely. She always did. She always did things so nonchalantly, but it always worked in the end.

Just as Eight was about to call Six's name again, the Guests both caught sight of her yellow raincoat and gave squawks of joy. They both leaned towards the centre of the room, bulging over their tables and knocking off various bits of food and crockery. She winced at each plate that smashed against the floor. Eight was sure that if the Guests didn't kill Six, then the falling plates and knocked-over chairs and tables would.

She had to have a plan, she had to! Eight desperately wanted to look away, but at the same time, there was no way she possibly could. Before she could make a decision, however, something happened that locked her eyes onto the unfolding scene.

Wisps of blackish smoke, identical to the magic the Lady had used to engulf Seven, were trailing out of Six's tiny form and winding towards the Guests. It happened rapidly, in the blink of an eye, and Eight had to check she wasn't dreaming.

_Of course..._was all she could think, paralysed with a mixture of fear and awe. _The Lady's magic...of course..._

The tendrils of darkness did their work. As Eight watched on, they reared like cobras in the faces of the oblivious Guests. Eight's eyes were drawn to the overhead lights - they flickered and sparked in the presence of such a dark, evil energy - and then Six's newfound magic struck.

The tendrils hit their mark. Pathetic, fearful gurgles were the only sounds the Guests could make before the shadowy mist surrounded them.

"No!" Eight yelled, before clamping her hands over her mouth. The memory of Seven's death returned in full force - the black, swirling cyclone of magic that engulfed him and reduced him to a mere pile of clothes - and tears of terror pricked at her eyes. "_SIX!_" she screamed.

Six walked on as the Guests struggled against her power. From their bodies, more black mist was forcefully sucked out. It trailed in strands towards her, winding around her body like obedient snakes and adding to the cloud of darkness that already surrounded her.

_Their essence,_ Eight realised. A hollow sense of acceptance had settled inside her; she wasn't surprised at what was happening because in a sick, twisted way...it made sense. There was no way she could stop it. But it was jarring to behold all the same. Eight's back slid slowly down the wall until she came to rest on the floor. Her legs were too weak to support her.

Eight thought she heard a burst of faint yet maniacal laughter from above and looked towards the rafters where the lights blinked fitfully. A shadowy child-sized figure flicked across her vision, appearing and then disappearing in an instant, and the laughter faded with it. A Shadow Child? Here...? No. Something else.

Six continued on without sparing her victims so much as a glance. The lights sparked and exploded one by one above her as she passed under them, Guest after Guest crumpled under her power and thudded against the floor, and the devilish cackles echoed around the space. Eight remained where she was, taking it all in but unable to move.

Six reached the end of the room, standing before the elevator, and it slid open without being touched. It was quiet now - the laughter and chaos had ceased as suddenly as it had appeared, and the only sound was the buzzing of the lights. Even from a distance, Eight could see that Six's tendrils were receding back inside her, thinning as they slithered back towards her and faded into nothingness.

An eternity passed as Eight tried to process all that had happened in such a short time. Eventually, Six turned around to look at her from the other side of the room and beckoned her closer.

Tentatively, Eight stood up, using the wall to support her. Her legs weren't quite working, and only shuffled forwards. She willed them to stop trembling. Six was a friend. Six wouldn't hurt her, and she never had. Eight kept her eyes on the floor as she walked between the two rows of upturned tables and Guests. Dead Guests. That she was certain of.

Through a blur of tears, Eight noticed an object blocking her path; she'd have to go around it. She blinked the moisture from her eyes and saw that it was the outstretched arm of one of the Guests, reaching with pale, chubby fingers. She tried not to look at the face of the arm's owner - she really tried to fight that urge - but her eyes instinctively lifted and she was face-to-face with the same Guest that had chased her before, the one she'd apologised to for not being able to break the spell over him.

A small squeak escaped Eight's throat as she stared at the dead man. She searched his face for familiar features, trying to discern if it was actually him. A lot of the Guests looked the same; maybe it wasn't him at all.

"Sorry," Eight managed to choke out before her feet carried her away. _Sorry, I'm sorry._

Eight ran towards Six and the elevator. Six was talking, her mouth opening and closing, but Eight wasn't taking in her words. She was too focused on her own question.

"Did you have to do that?" Eight asked quietly, her throat raw. "I thought you wanted to save everyone."

"What?" Six's tone was defensive, bitter. Uncharacteristic. "I was saving _you_. How else were we supposed to get past the Guests quickly enough? They were still trying to eat both of us."

Eight just shook her head and ran into the elevator, unable to look at Six. Tears welled in her eyes once more, but she felt too hollow to cry. She knew what Six said held some truth, but it was still wrong. Six wasn't an angel like she'd first thought. She'd changed. Grown colder, scarier. Was the Lady's essence taking hold of her?

She heard Six enter the elevator as well, and the doors sliding shut. Silence passed as the elevator descended. The trip was considerably longer than that of the first elevator, which meant they were getting closer and closer to the Prison - but Eight didn't feel happy. She found a scratch on the floor and stared at it, trying to notice every detail, giving her mind something to focus on instead of what just happened.

When the elevator was about halfway down, Six suddenly took a sharp inhale of breath. Eight glanced up, alarmed, in time to see her hunched with her hands over her face. Not her stomach, but her face.

"What's wrong?" Eight questioned.

Six was breathing deeply through clenched teeth. The rush of her breaths was the only sound. Then she spoke. Very, very quietly - so quietly in fact that Eight thought she may have imagined it: "Leave us alone."

"Six?" Eight ventured cautiously. Six gingerly took her hands away from her face and straightened, blinking as if she'd just woken up. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Six replied softly. She sounded tired. "Are you?"

Eight bit her lip. "Not quite."

"I, um. I'm sorry," Six mumbled. "I just…"

"Lost control?" Eight asked.

Six nodded. "It's the Lady. Her essence. I didn't mean to absorb it - it wasn't my choice to get hungry, but-"

"You couldn't help it."

Six nodded again. "And it's much stronger than me. I can feel it...changing me. It's dangerous."

To the surprise of both girls, Eight took a step towards Six. "But you have a good heart," she said strongly. "Remember what I said. You can fight it, you can use your powers for good. The Lady was evil but you don't have to be."

"I know," was all Six said, but Eight could practically hear her mind churning over those words.

Eight took her gentle, motherly approach and boldly closed the distance between them so she could wrap the younger girl in a tight embrace. Six tensed against the hug, then slowly relaxed. Only now did Eight notice the semi-dried blood staining her neck and chin, somewhat hidden under the shadows of her hood. The Lady's blood, possibly the Nome's as well.

Eight stepped back and unwound her ribbon-belt, scrunching one of the pin-free ends and holding it up to Six's face as a makeshift cleaning rag. "How about I clean you up a little?"

Six simply nodded.

"Can you take off your hood for me?"

Eight saw Six visibly freeze. She guessed that Six had never shown her face to anyone on the Maw before, and her hooded raincoat was what provided her with a sense of safety and security.

"Actually, you don't have t-" Eight said immediately, trying to take back her request and put Six at ease. But Six's tiny fingers were already reaching up, gradually drawing back the yellow hood that covered most of her face and letting it fall back to the nape of her neck.

What Eight noticed about Six's face first...was simply how ordinary it was. Not that she thought Six was ugly or unremarkable, but her face was just...like hers. Like any other child's face. For some strange reason, Eight had expected Six to look different in some sense - she was so incredible after all, and different to any of the other kids. But as she took in Six's short black bob (that looked like it could use a good wash), the smooth outlines of her face, and her deep brown eyes - intelligent, and in this moment, vulnerable - Eight realised that despite everything, Six was still just a child. The blood around her mouth was the only indication that Six wasn't a typical kid.

A strong desire to protect Six washed over Eight, and she hugged her close again. The little girl flinched at the sudden display of affection, but wrapped her arms around Eight's waist.

"I know you feel like it's your job to save everyone," Eight murmured. "But I want to save people too. I couldn't protect Seven. I could only watch before as the Lady took his life, but I want to at least save you, Six. Let me help you."

The elevator shuddered to a halt and the doors parted. The Maw expanded beyond, waiting for them. But the two girls didn't leave until all the blood had been cleaned from Six's face, and all her tears had been gently wiped away too.

_\- End of chapter -_


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16:**

**Six**

Six stood with Eight before the very place she'd vowed never to return to. It loomed above them; a monster of grey steel, cold and guarded. They would be venturing right into its very belly, freeing those trapped within.

Six just hoped she _could_ free them. Another engine had failed while the girls were making the journey here, and Six swore that the Maw had even shifted under her feet this time, tilting fairly noticeably to one side. At this rate, the Maw would tip too far and the way out would be submerged underwater.

"Are you ready?" Eight asked, giving Six a cautious look. She'd put her hood back on after stepping out of the elevator, cloaking her face once more. She hadn't noticed that her hands had curled themselves into fists, and she tried to relax them.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Six answered truthfully. Her efforts to relax were futile; her hands were now fidgeting with the rubbery material of her raincoat. It was still flecked with blood - the remnants that Eight hadn't been able to wipe off - and Six wondered whose blood it was.

The rat, the Nome, the Lady...Six shivered as she recalled the moments she'd been overcome by agonising Hunger. It had clawed at her insides, reducing her to a weak and trembling mess and swallowing her mind so that she couldn't think or control her movements. Then she'd suddenly 'woken up' in time to see the carnage she'd caused and feel the guilt brimming in her throat, a taste more repulsive than the blood in her mouth.

Shadow Six's taunting echoes had grown even stronger since she'd consumed the Lady's essence. Shadow Six seemed to have a physical presence now, too. She wasn't just a brief shadow in the corner of Six's eye, or a faint voice that she heard occasionally. No, Shadow Six was _really_ real now.

The incident in the Guest Area, no more than a few hours ago at most, was proof of that. Six still couldn't recall everything that had happened. What had she done? How had she acted? All that Six remembered was that she'd felt a surge of confidence and power before she'd entered the Guest Area, a sense that she was indestructible, and then everything from that point forward had felt like a dream, like she was viewing things as if she was underwater as Shadow Six took over. A compelling, irresistible voice had come from within Six, and she'd obeyed everything it told her to do as if it was her own free will.

Six wanted to ask Eight about what had happened in the Guest Area but she bit her tongue. She realised Eight was speaking to her anyway, and glanced up to meet her eyes.

"Sorry...what?" Six asked.

Eight's eyebrows knitted in concern. She looked to the heavy sealed doors before them and then back at Six. "I was just running through what we should do again, once we get inside. Do you remember the plan?"

Six pushed the thoughts from her mind for now. "Yeah. I'll open the doors."

She approached the doors and concentrated on them. According to Eight, she'd managed to open an elevator in the Guest Area before without touching it, thanks to the Lady's power. She tried to do that again now, calling upon the power within her that had now fallen dormant for the time being. It stirred at her command, awakening and sitting up straight like an obedient dog waiting for an order.

Six focused her efforts on opening the doors and immediately they slid wide apart with a resounding groan, coming to rest with a hollow clunk. Six marvelled at how easy it had been. Her new power really was strong. She hadn't even had to release her tendrils, those shadowy snakes made up of wispy mist.

"I hope no-one heard that," Eight murmured anxiously from behind Six. She padded closer, gazing into the darkness. Six looked too, the night-vision she'd acquired from the rat helping her peer through the gloom. She recognised this place. The Unloading Bay. This was where kids came onto the Maw from the outside world; this was where she'd had her very first memory of waking up in a cage with nothing but her raincoat and lighter.

"Don't worry, even if someone did hear I'll be able to protect you if they come for us." Six flicked on her lighter and took a step into the yawning darkness. "Stay close, ok?"

Eight swept her flashlight beam around the space as they walked in. All the cages stood empty now but from the look on her face, she recognised this place too.

"You had the raincoat and lighter ever since you came onto the Maw, right?" Eight asked suddenly as they continued through, her lips pursed in thought.

"Yeah," Six asked. "Why?"

Eight turned the flashlight in her hand. "It's the same with my flashlight. Right from when I woke up in a cage here, I had it with me. So...I think it's mine. Judging by the size of these things - your lighter and my flashlight - the outside world must be normal-sized if they came from there, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"So in the outside world, we must be normal-sized kids," Eight went on.

"Yeah, why wouldn't we be?" Six didn't say the words harshly; she was merely preoccupied with getting to the Nursery and keeping Eight safe along the way.

"Well," Eight gave a little laugh, more like an exhale. "It's kind of silly but I always felt like everything on the Maw was normal-sized and _us kids_ were just tiny, like little bugs."

"It's designed that way," Six said. It was the most obvious explanation in her mind. "Everything is massive on purpose so it's harder for us to escape."

"Mm, yeah, I think you're right. It'll just...be weird I guess to finally be in a world where we're a normal size. Like we finally belong, you know?"

Six nodded, but deep down she wondered how she of all people could ever be 'normal' in the outside world. The Maw was unquestionably evil, yes, but at least her powers and curses and traits made some kind of sense here. They helped her survive. But in the outside world, they'd only haunt her.

Maybe she didn't belong anywhere.

...oOo...

As per the plan they'd discussed earlier, Six and Eight made it to the Nursery without wasting any time. (Six did know the layout like the back of her hand anyway, having made the journey to steal food from here so many times).

However, the Nursery had changed since the last time either girl had been there. The Eye Beams that turned kids to stone and the electrified metal bars were switched off, totally harmless. The Lady's death had really emphasised how vital she had been to the Maw's survival. Without her magic, even basic functions like electricity were failing.

As a result, the place was even darker and dustier than it had previously been. It seemed deserted too. Toys lay scattered across hallways like forgotten bones, but there was no-one there playing with them. Six and Eight wandered cautiously around the Nursery's ground floor, finding that each dormitory room was not only shut but also locked. Six used her magic to open a few of them, but they all stood empty. Where had all the kids gone?

"I don't like this," Eight muttered, voicing Six's own thoughts. "Where have they all gone? Maybe they were moved somewhere…?"

"The Janitor can't have had anything to do with it - he's dead," Six reasoned. "So maybe…" a realisation clicked inside her like a lightbulb being switched on. Eight's eyes lit up at the same moment, too.

"The Wax Bellman!" they both said in unison.

"He must've gathered up all the kids after the Janitor never returned from his Lair," Eight theorised. Her words were tumbling out rapidly, as they so often did whenever she had an idea. "They must be wherever he is, maybe in cages or something. Maybe some of them even escaped before the Wax Bellman realised the Janitor was dead."

Six nodded thoughtfully. "It makes sense. But where would he have taken them all?"

Having never been a prisoner in the Nursery, Six didn't have a really clear idea of what the Wax Bellman would have done with the prisoners. She wracked her brain, trying to come up with ideas. Nothing.

But Eight knew.

"The Mad Rooms," she said suddenly.

"The what?"

Eight pointed to the floors above. "The Mad Rooms. Or the Dungeons - that's their nickname. They're where the 'mad' kids are taken, the really badly-behaved ones. If they misbehave enough, or if they try to escape, they're taken there one day and are never seen again."

Six's eyes followed the length of Eight's finger, gazing upwards. "Have you ever been in there?"

Eight shook her head. "Of course not. I had a good record of being one of the most well-behaved kids. The doors are really heavy and bolted, but getting in there should be easy with your abilities, right?" Eight couldn't keep the excitement out of her voice. "I'd say that would be a good place to keep kids from escaping. Maybe the kids are in there, or there could be clues to tell us where they've gone."

"You're probably right," Six agreed. It's worth a try."

...oOo…

The hefty bolt of the first door scraped noisily as it was unlatched without being touched. Six and Eight stood on either side of the door, prepared for whatever might be inside. Six ordered her power to stay alert for any kind of danger that might harm them. But as the seconds became minutes, nothing happened.

She signalled to Eight and they quietly pushed the door the rest of the way open and slipped inside, entering the first of many Mad Rooms that stood on this floor.

On the inside, the room was much different to anything Six - and Eight too, she guessed - had ever seen. At first glance, it looked like some kind of office, relatively normal due to the desk with its stack of paperwork and the filing cabinets lining one wall. But that's where the normality stopped.

On the other side of the room were a handful of cages, and beyond that was a steel platform that was strewn with various medical instruments for testing or experiments of some kind. Six looked through the shadows and saw that there was also a shelf of ancient, ornate books similar to those she'd seen in the Lady's Quarters. And above that was a thick roll of off-white fabric, large rusty scissors and a conveyer belt of hooks identical to the ones that had carried bundles of meat to the Kitchens. They stood frozen now due to the lack of electricity, but Six imagined a time when they would've been swishing through the air, loaded with their grim cargo.

Six and Eight glanced at each other worriedly, trying to make sense of the place. It felt too sinister, too surreal.

"Help!" A tiny voice whispered through the gloom. Six and Eight both froze instinctively, hearts pounding. Six's head swivelled towards the source of the sound and located the group of cages that had appeared empty at first glance. But now she saw a small figure standing at the door of one of them, slim fingers curling around the bars. She whispered to Eight to switch on her flashlight, who did so and shone it across the room.

The boy in the cage squinted at the light and shielded his eyes. Six and Eight took in his appearance: shaggy black hair, a faded button-up with many of the buttons missing, grimy bare feet...and then they also noticed the other pair of caged kids there as well, rising slowly to their feet and shuffling stiffly over to their own cage doors.

3 in total. 2 boys and a girl. They didn't look like they'd washed or slept or eaten properly in days. But they were alive at least, and they could most likely tell Six and Eight what was going on in the Prison.

"Who are you?" The first boy asked. "You're not from the Nursery, are you?"

"No," Six answered. "But we don't have the time to explain. We need to get you out of here. The leader of the Maw is dead; the ship is sinking."

There was a ripple of shock at her declaration, but then the girl piped up uncertainly. "How can you be sure?"

"Because I killed her myself." Shock met her words again, but this time it was the stunned, silent kind. Six felt it again - that dangerous surge of power and invincibility. Shadow Six thrived on it, and she was somewhere below the surface, waiting for a chance to gain more. Six did her best to smother the feeling before it could grow any more and focused on the task at hand: saving the kids.

"Can you open the cages?" Eight asked.

"I think so," Six replied. With only a second or two of concentration, all three cages sprang open at the same time. Six felt a spark of pride but extinguished it quickly. Even though she was getting good at using her new abilities, she couldn't get cocky. That was what Shadow Six wanted.

"How did you do that?" The girl squeaked.

"Like I said - no time to explain. Just come."

"Ok, quickly now. You're safe now…" Eight murmured gently as the kids climbed down from their cages and onto the floor.

"I'm hungry," the second boy whimpered, presumably the youngest. Eight knelt before him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know, little one, but we have to rescue more children first. And then you can have something to eat, ok? You've been very strong - hold on a little longer, alright?"

Six watched on as the boy nodded bravely and took Eight's hand when she offered it. She wondered where Eight had learned that sympathy from. It was something she didn't have. Didn't need. She had power instead.

"Hurry up," she found herself saying curtly before she had even thought about speaking the words. Her feet moved forwards, almost of their own accord, towards the next room.

Eight gawped behind her and then turned to the other kids, trying to sound cheery and confident. "Ok, let's go. Follow us and stay close."

...oOo...

Dungeon after Dungeon yielded the same scenario - more kids who were scared and cold and hungry, usually about 4 or 5 in each room. Six nonchalantly opened the cage doors and let Eight do all the explaining as the group of escapees became larger and larger. They followed behind her like startled little ducklings as Six strode on ahead, not bothering to turn back to see if they were getting too far behind.

_So weak, _she'd found herself thinking. Then she caught herself and slapped her hands against her face to snap out of whatever was going on with her. _I told you to leave us alone, _she growled at Shadow Six mentally. She heard nothing but a cackle echoing back at her.

She and Eight reached the fifth room and had rescued about half of the kids in the Nursery before they ran into any trouble.

"Not going," rasped the boy, Fifteen, even after his cage had been opened. He hadn't moved at all. He still had his back to Six and Eight, his shoulders hunched forward and his chin resting on his knees.

Eight gave Six a bewildered stare then talked to the boy. "It's alright now, you're safe," she soothed. "Come on out now, ok? We're finally getting out of this place."

The boy didn't move. Six remembered what he'd said to her when they'd first met, what seemed like a century ago: _It's not like we remember where we came from._

Her mouth curled up in disgust before she could stop it. "Leave him," she said abruptly, turning away from the cage and pacing towards the exit.

"Six!" Eight hissed, but Six ignored her.

She heard Eight continuing to plead with Fifteen as she walked to the door, her voice growing more and more desperate. As if on cue, the Maw gave a lurch to one side and a resounding boom vibrated through the floor. The band of children gathered around Eight, about 20 or so, gave a collective gasp.

"That's the third one!" Six heard one of them say in panic as they regained their balance. "What's happening?"

Eight was trying to shush the worried cries of the kids, smiling and trying in vain to calm them. She distractedly turned back to Fifteen and called again, but there was no answer.

A new, different sound. Six strained her ears, the rat's essence aiding her hearing, and made out the steady thud of booted feet approaching their room. The other kids didn't seem to have heard it, too busy panicking to notice.

Six ran to the doorway, releasing her tendrils. They quivered and swirled as they were freed into the air, reaching like serpents waking from hibernation, ready to kill and feed.

Shadow Six reared her head like an audience waiting in suspense. There was that deadly surge of power again, exploding in Six's chest - and then the Wax Bellman's shadow falling across the doorway.

_\- End of chapter -_


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17:**

**Eight**

The boy in the cage still wasn't responding. No matter how many times Eight gently called to him, he wouldn't do so much as lift his head. The rest of the kids flocked around Eight restlessly, some tugging on her dress and others asking what had caused the ship to suddenly lurch. She could only smile fakely at them and murmur empty reassurances at the babbling kids while Six walked on. They didn't have time to spare, Eight realised. They had to keep going, even if it meant leaving the boy behind, or they'd all die here.

The youngest boy who they'd rescued from the first Dungeon, named Twenty - or 'Twenny' as he'd insisted in his young voice - nervously squeezed Eight's hand and pressed his body against her leg, trying to hide from the barrage of voices. Eight's eyes were tugged downwards at his movement and she placed a distracted hand on the 6-year-old's head to comfort him, then glanced towards the boy in the cage, opening her mouth and taking a breath to call him one last time.

But then the commotion around her suddenly halted - the collective noise and bustle of the children around Eight ceased abruptly like a breath cut short. Eight's own breath caught in her throat as she turned her head towards the doorway, where a tall shadow had crossed it. A fraction of a second later the shadow was accompanied by its owner.

The Wax Bellman himself.

Twenny shrieked and buried his face in Eight's thigh, instantly bursting into fearful tears that were muffled by her dress. Eight could do nothing to comfort him, anchored to the floor as she beheld the Wax Bellman's nightmarish face.

Hence his name, his skin was identical to drippy candle wax that had melted and re-hardened, melted and re-hardened. He wore traditional bellman's attire, including a cap and coat crimson as blood. The sight of his face alone was enough to plunge Eight into the terror of her very first memory onboard the Maw.

...oOo…

The girl blinked open her eyes inside a cold metal enclosure, her senses groggily returning as she sat up. She was wearing overalls and brown leather shoes, or at least...one shoe. The other was missing, leaving just a sock on her foot. Had she lost it? How? She didn't know. Her thin fingers explored the dark interior of her enclosure, curling around strong metal bars.

_Am I in a cage...? Have I been kidnapped...?_

The thoughts were absurd, but as the girl spotted the bulky padlock locking her inside, she realised the answers to her questions were likely to be yes. She didn't know why she was in a cage, or how she had gotten there. She didn't know where she was, didn't remember what had happened for her to be kidnapped or locked in a cage at all. She didn't know anything.

Something hard and smooth brushed her foot and the girl drew away from it fearfully. But after a tense few seconds of nothingness...her curiosity got the better of her and she felt around for it in the dimness, using her hands to work out what it was. A flashlight, in the cage with her. The girl turned it in her hands, wondering if it was hers and if it worked. She decided not to switch it on though; that could be a bad idea.

The girl gasped and clutched the flashlight to her chest as a series of metallic groans and creaks assaulted her ears from all sides. She tried to scramble to her feet in the confined space, preparing herself for whatever was to happen next, but she couldn't stand to her full height given how tall she was.

Instead, she managed a half-crouch as her eyes darted around the space, her breath short and ragged. Peering through the bars met her with the sight of a grey, gloomy expanse...filled with stacks upon stacks of cages, all identical to her own. If she squinted she could make out the silhouettes of children like her peering back at her through their own cage bars.

As she continued to look out, she spotted movement and noticed a figure who stood a short distance from her, before a desk. Even with his back to her, she could see that he wore a dark red cap and coat. He was eerily tall and skinny too, with unnaturally-long limbs. Not like any human the girl had ever seen.

_Is this the person who kidnapped me? _The girl wondered, adrenaline coursing like hot acid through her veins. Horror gripped her stomach. _What will he do with me? With the other kids?_

Even more horrific than the girl's racing thoughts was the man's face when he turned around - oozing like warm wax.

_A mask, _the girl reassured herself, no matter how real it looked. _Just a mask, just a disguise for kidnapping people._

Her reassurances faltered as the man began moving towards the very cage she was held in. The girl shrank back against the walls of the cage...then seconds later her blood ran cold as the cage lurched as the man picked it up.

Why was he so tall and huge - big enough to carry a child-sized cage like it was a mere jar? The girl noticed as she was placed down on the desk that it too was huge...at least twice her height, not like any normal-sized desk. But why?

_Have I shrunk?_ the girl wondered giddily. _Did everything grow? Is this a dream? _

The cage was turned sharply onto its side so the man had a birds-eye view of its door, as well as the padlock securing it. The girl was jostled to one side at the movement, and glanced up quickly in time to see the man's face - no, _his mask,_ she told herself - appear above her. She grabbed the flashlight and held it behind her back, shielding it from his view as his eyes bore into her.

His face...so real...the mask was so life-like, as though his skin really was made of oily wax.

The cage rattled as one of the man's hands slotted a key into its padlock, and then he slowly swung the cage door open as if he was lifting the lid to an insect's enclosure. The girl was too stunned to react, her heart palpitating as he looked down at her clearly for a good few moments. She watched as the man picked up a clipboard and began scribbled notes, presumably about her.

Escape crossed the girl's mind but there was no way she'd get far. She wouldn't even be able to climb out of the cage properly before he snatched her up. And even if she _could _leap off the massive desk, where would she go? Which direction? One of his long-legged strides would be equal to maybe 10 of hers. He was a giant, there was no way she could outrun him.

A wad of off-white clothing was thrown down at her, interrupting her thoughts as it landed in her lap. The monster pointed a greasy finger at her.

"Name: Eight," he rumbled. Even his voice sounded, somehow, like melted wax - dribbling and slippery.

_Eight?_ _My name? That's not a name…! That's not my real name…_

The girl wracked her brain for her actual name, but the memory of it was gone...an empty gap in her mind.

"Now. Dress." The sludgy voice of the man came again from above her. He thrust his finger at the clothes he'd just given her - undergarments and a dress. No shoes. The girl tried to obey his order, not wanting to anger him should he end up hurting her. It was best to do what he said until she learnt more about this place to find a way out. She tried to stand but her legs were weak with fear. She was unable to look away from his face, noticing the way he blinked, his voice and the way his mouth oozed when he spoke. And his hands...they weren't gloves...that was no mask, no disguise. It seemed this man really was a monster of living wax.

_B...but that's impossible..._

The Wax-Man grunted and reached his hand inside the cage to pluck up the uncooperative girl and lift her onto her feet. His skin was almost gelatinous, like solidified lard, and left a residue on her skin as he propped her up. The girl quickly tucked the flashlight into the back pocket of her overalls to keep him from seeing it. Fortunately, her pocket was deep enough and the shadows of the cage dark enough to hide it.

Unable to do anything else, the girl rushed to put on the new clothes, discreetly transferring the precious flashlight from her pocket to her undergarments. She then worked up just enough courage to speak to the Wax-Man, keeping her head bowed to not look at his terrible face.

"I, um...I lost one of my shoes, sir. C-could I, um, maybe have a new pair. Please?"

"No questions!" the Wax-Man burbled, making her jump. "No shoes! No socks!"

With some prompting, the girl took off her single shoe and pair of socks, then handed them to the Wax-Man with the rest of her old clothes. After a final visual check-over of her, he locked the cage again and placed it on the floor beside him. He still didn't know about her hidden treasure.

The girl released a shaky breath. She'd passed his assessment! She glimpsed him move away to grab another cage from the tall pile and begin repeating the same process with yet another child, assigning them the name 'Nine'. How many children were here? Where were they, exactly? The girl breathed as calmly as she could as she waited for answers. Had she and the others really been kidnapped? Why couldn't she remember anything? Who was that man of living wax?

As she waited, a door creaked open somewhere and another monster - there was no denying he wasn't human - entered the room. It was a stumpy one with long, long arms. His spindly fingers latched onto the girl's cage and began to drag her away, the metal cage scraping ear-splittingly against the metal floor.

Eight had screamed then, thinking she was going to be killed. But the life that unfolded for her in those next months was perhaps worse than death.

...oOo…

Seeing this powerful monster collapse onto the floorboards in front of her - killed just like that - was jarring to say the least.

Eight watched on as the Wax Bellman's essence trailed towards Six as she stood by the doorway, flowing into her core. She numbly wondered how Six could make all these monsters crumble beneath her so easily.

Everything had a surreal quality, almost like everything around Eight was blanketed in mist that nullified sound and slowed movement. She barely had time to process the Wax Bellman's abrupt death before Six turned to her and the rest of the children, tendrils still raised and expression dark. The other children murmured fearfully as Six took a deliberate step towards them. Twenny whimpered again and tugged Eight's dress, making her finally come back to herself.

Eight swallowed down her shock. "S-Six?" she asked cautiously. "Are you ok?"

Six took another step towards them, unresponsive. The raincoat's hood hid her expression; it was impossible to tell what she was thinking.

"Six!" Eight called. "It's just us. It's me, Eight, and the kids we just rescued."

Another step, the distance between them shrinking. Still no answer.

"Six!" Eight repeated. The rest of the kids were backing away; she started doing the same. "Come on, Six. We're going to save everyone!"

The girl paused. Eight could sense the battle raging in Six's mind, the fight between herself and her power for control. She went on, desperate for Six to win.

"We're going to get off the Maw! We're going to save everyone, remember? We can do it, we can get out of here for good!"

Eight heard a low laugh, echoing around her like the laugh she'd heard in the Guest Area. The other children heard it too and gasped, the whites of their eyes flashing as they scanned the room. Some of the nearest kids latched onto Eight's arms like lead weights. Twenny looked up at her, eyes wide and round.

"Y-you can put your magic away for now, ok?" Eight went on, pretending the laughing voice didn't exist. "We need to focus on finding a way out!"

Six's tendrils were still undulating in the air around her, coiled like predators ready to strike. She had stopped walking towards them, standing on the spot, but Eight had no idea what she was thinking.

"Come on, Six..." Eight whispered pleadingly. "We're going to save everyone."

"Urggh!" Six suddenly made a movement, hunching and clutching her hands over her face with a pained groan. Eight and the kids jumped and retreated away, Eight shielding them with her arms.

"It's ok, Six! You can do it!" Eight called.

"Come on, Six!" Twenny shouted bravely, following Eight's lead.

There was a silence as the rest of the kids registered who had spoken, blinking at Twenny - and then they also burst into encouragement.

"Come on, Six!"

"You can do it!"

"It's ok, we're gonna get out of here!"

Six was breathing rapidly, her chest rising and falling with scared breaths. Eventually, she gave a kind of triumphant growl as her tendrils curled slowly back into her being.

"I...I'm ok," she said quietly, straightening. She cleared her throat and looked at Eight. "Let's get out of here."

Eight heaved a sigh of relief. Her legs were a little shaky and she felt lightheaded. Still, she knew it would wear off in time. Things were ok now. They were safe. The other kids had relaxed a little too but still looked wary, confused by Six's power.

"It's ok," Eight assured them. She let go of Twenny briefly, stepping closer to Six and lowering her voice. "Are you sure you're ok?"

Six nodded, but couldn't meet Eight's eyes. "Yeah, it's just...all the essence inside me. But I'm fine now, I promise. And I have good news."

Eight raised her eyebrows in question. Six took her hand and led her towards the doorway, pretending the Wax Bellman's body wasn't there as they stepped around it. Eight signalled to the rest of the kids, who hesitantly came after. The boy in the cage wasn't among them.

"What's this good news?" Eight pressed, trying to take her mind off the boy who'd lost hope.

"I discovered a way out from the Wax Bellman's essence," Six explained. "I'm not sure how much you knew about him, but earlier on I found an office belonging to him. It had a magic Eye that he used to watch almost everything happening on the Maw. That was one of the jobs the Lady gave him - sneaking between walls and spying on everything that happens here. For that reason, he has lots of places to hide, secret passageways and things. There's a passageway right around here, Eight - one that leads all the way to the top of the Maw!"

...oOo...

Eight and Six had rescued as many kids as they could, as well as a handful of Nomes, and now their group stood at 25 escapees total, including the two girls themselves. Eight beamed at the sheer amount they'd been able to rescue, but even so, there had been a sizable number of kids that simply hadn't responded to them at all, no matter how many times they'd been encouraged to come out of their open cages.

_Maybe they'll follow us..._Eight thought, but it was an empty hope.

Now, Six had led Eight and the others over to an unassuming stretch of steel wall a short way from the Nursery, where she'd said the secret passageway began. The escapees huddled around as Six brushed her small hands against the wall, searching for an invisible door. Finally, she found the spot she was looking for and pressed against it. Nothing happened.

"Was...was that meant to do something?" Eight asked.

Six huffed. She was already releasing her tendrils a fraction, focusing them on the wall. "I don't think I'm strong enough to push it open with my hands," she explained. "But this should work…"

With a mighty push, Six's magic swept over the wall and it swung open with a light click, revealing a hidden passageway. Excitement rippled through the crowd.

"You were right!" Eight exclaimed. She cautiously looked inside, where a narrow staircase stretched up into the darkness as far as she could see.

Six flicked on her lighter and bounded through the secret door towards the first step. "Come on!" she called. "This leads straight to the top of the Maw. It'll be faster and safer than moving in and out of elevators, and now that the electricity is failing, some of the elevators probably don't work anymore at all. This is our way out!"

The other children were looking to Eight for direction. A genuine smile tugged on the corners of her lips this time, and her confidence wasn't fake or empty. She switched on her flashlight and shone it ahead, illuminating the wooden steps polished by years of use and the cobwebs that clung to them.

"Ok, you heard Six! Let's go, quickly now!"

The children and Nomes scampered past her in pairs, following Six as she ploughed on ahead. Eight and Twenny made up the rear, making sure no-one got left behind.

Twenny grasped Eight's hand as they walked together, his little legs doing their best to keep up. Throughout the journey, Eight had to carry him a few times if the steps became uneven or slippery, but even so she admired the great job he was doing.

"Is Six magic?" Twenny asked her at one point.

"Yes, she is," Eight replied.

"And she stopped the bad Wax-Man!"

"Yeah, that's right."

"Six is good…" he murmured thoughtfully. "I want to be like Six and do magic too!"

Eight tried not to grimace. There was no way someone as young and innocent as Twenny could survive a curse like Six's. He didn't know about her Hunger, only her ability to open locks and kill enemies with one sharp flick of her tendrils. Six was incredibly strong and resilient, but even so, she still suffered immensely under the Lady's curse and the weight of all the essence she'd consumed. Eight worried about what they'd just seen - the maniacal laugh she'd heard twice now, Six struggling to maintain control over her power. Would there be a day when she lost control?

"Maybe one day," Eight said simply in reply to Twenny.

The band of kids and Nomes lapsed into silence as they trekked on...one hour passing, then two. In the quiet, Eight felt a question come to the surface of her mind, nagging for her attention.

_If the Wax Bellman had this secret passageway all along, why didn't he just leave the Maw when the Lady died and the first engine failed? Or even way, way before that?_

Eight couldn't think of why the Wax Bellman would want to stay on a sinking ship with a bunch of caged children instead of just trying to escape. It didn't make sense. Maybe she'd have to ask Six.

"How much longer?" Eight heard one of the kids ahead of her ask.

"Not very far!" Six called back down the line of children. Eight could see the dancing glow of her lighter from up ahead on the staircase and let it take her mind off her tired legs, which were aching quite badly. She couldn't imagine how the others with shorter legs were doing, especially the Nomes and Twenny.

"I'm tired!" another kid complained. Eight _had_ noticed that the group had slowed down considerably compared to when they'd first started out, even despite frequent encouragement from her and Six. It had been hours since they'd begun their climb, and the kids were malnourished at that. "Can't we stop for a bit?"

Murmurs of agreement echoed through the narrow space. Many kids were tiring but they weren't able to stop, especially not now. The Maw could tip at any second and their exit would be flooded by impassable water.

"I'm sorry, but we have to keep going!" Eight called out to them. "You heard Six, it's not much longer now and we have to hurry before the ship sinks too far!"

Reluctant groans met her words, and the pace began to quicken a little. Eight decided to tell the group about what she'd seen from the Maw's hull to take their mind off the walking, talking all about the sunlight and ocean spray and the white bird wheeling above her head.

The kids and Nomes listened with hushed awe as they continued climbing, especially Twenny, whose eyes grew wider with each new thing Eight described. "Wow!" he cried. "I want to see a bird too!"

"Shhh! We're here!" Six's voice suddenly cut through the crowd. The group of escapees came to a halt and the narrow staircase had almost ended, transforming into a wide space where the group could gather. Six beckoned to the rest of the escapees and they climbed the last few steps to huddle around her.

Eight squeezed through the group and stood next to her. "What's next?" she asked.

"We're at the top of the Maw now, close to the Guest Area," Six told her. "There's a massive door nearby that should open with my magic, and then we'll be free. We just need to watch out for any stray Guests, but I'll be able to handle them if anything happens."

"It's that simple?" Eight asked. "What about once we get outside?"

Six bit her lip. "I'll think of something, I'm sure. Maybe they'll be something we can use as a boat."

Eight nodded along, determined to succeed despite the vagueness of Six's plan. They'd come this far, failure wasn't an option.

"Right," Six turned to the rest of the group and explained to them what she'd said to Eight, finishing with a rare grin that exuded nothing but confidence. "And keep your eyes open for anything we can use as a boat, ok? Let's go!"

One by one, the kids and Nomes followed Six out of the passageway and crept along the floor. Her sense of bravery and adventure was contagious; all the kids looked up to her. Eight had never seen Six this way, but she was glad that everyone was listening to her. Eight was at the back of the group again with Twenny, making sure all the escapees had left the passageway before she followed Six too.

In the distance were the sounds of Guests chewing food and tumbling over each other in their single-minded efforts to feed, and Eight wondered if the Lady's spell would wear off before the Maw fully sank. Even if the Guests did 'wake up' in time, would they be able to escape the Maw at all? There were hundreds of them, and nothing that could be a makeshift boat to hold them all. It would be hard enough finding a boat to carry 25 tiny prisoners, let alone something for a mass of huge, heavy Guests.

Hugging the wall, the trail of escapees crossed the space without being detected by any of the Guests in the neighbouring rooms. They reached a small gap in the far wall, ducking through one by one and leaving the Guests behind for good.

When Eight reached the gap, she nudged Twenny through and did one final sweep of the room to make sure no-one had been left behind. Satisfied, Eight was about to venture through the gap when she heard the soft tinkle of a Nome.

She paused, turning back to the room. The tinkling grew louder as a Nome appeared and waddled quickly towards her, deliberately bumping into her legs when it reached her so it could nuzzle against her knee.

Eight was taken aback. This was one of the Nomes she'd seen after being separated from Seven - one of the 3 that had guided her to the Doll Room!

"Hello again, little one!" She picked up the Nome and hugged them to her chest. "I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to say goodbye before. Where are your friends...?"

At her question, the Nome squirmed around and pointed. There were more tinkling rattles and two more Nomes came into view, recognising Eight and racing towards her with their little arms outstretched.

Eight laughed as they collided with her legs and hugged her tight. "Come on now, we'll get left behind! Do you want to get out of here?"

The 3 Nomes nodded vigorously and Eight began to lead them through the gap to catch up with the group, but instead of following her they bustled around her legs and tugged on her dress for attention, pointing back into the room.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Wait!" A boy's voice called.

Eight looked around in surprise and saw a boy coming towards them, dressed in a baggy coat and surrounded by even more Nomes. He had blond hair and a curved scar across his left eye.

"Please wait!" the boy said breathlessly as he and the Nomes came towards Eight. He took in her shocked expression and grinned. "We'd like to get out of here too, please!"

_\- End of chapter -_

**A/N: **Ooh look at that, I worked out how to put a fancy divider there! ^^

Anyway! I'm honestly amazed at how much attention this fic has gotten, especially since it's the first time I've written fanfic or even just anything of this length! I'm kinda just making this up as I go whoops and uploading each new chapter as I write it, so apologies for any errors/plot holes and such. It's also the first time I've written from the POV of children so yeah, hopefully it's not too bad. But anyway, thanks for all your support and I hope it's been a good read so far!

As you probably guessed, I adore the _Little Nightmares _game since it's the fandom that got me into writing fanfic and it's so one-of-a-kind. As such, I have more ideas for other LN fics! Maybe something following the Lady's life and how she actually became the Lady; maybe even a ~sequel~ to _this_ story, following Six, Eight and the other kids after they escape the Maw... Please let me know if you'd be interested in reading more LN fics of mine, and/or a _Children of the Maw_ sequel!

Due to what's going on in the world at the moment, my inspiration and motivation to write are a bit lacking so please don't be too concerned if I take more than 2 weeks to upload. That said, I'll do my best so stay tuned for the next chapter!

I hope you all are staying safe and happy too :D That's all from me for now, please let me know your thoughts on a sequel etc!


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18:**

**Six**

They'd reached the doors. They loomed above Six and the rest of the children. Enormous, just like every other object on the Maw, but rather than foreboding, Six felt their presence was emboldening.

She'd done it.

For days, weeks, months, she'd been fighting tooth and nail to survive. And here, finally, was the fruit of her labour: her freedom. Would she dare to take it? Would she dare step out into the wide world, even more vast and unknown than the colossal Maw?

Of course she would.

Six had been yearning for this right from the start, ever since she'd woken up in that cage with her memories gone. She wanted to overcome her suffering; at least live in a sun-warmed world where she wouldn't have to fear for her life every single day. Food would be abundant, and she wouldn't risk harming her friends every time she got hungry.

Six had fought for her freedom endlessly. It was rightfully hers. And so the answer was yes - she would take her freedom, always. Take it with both hands and never let go. Yes, a thousand times yes.

A warm kaleidoscope of feelings she didn't have the vocabulary for blossomed in her heart as she stood before the doors. She could put a name to some of the simplest ones: happiness. Pride, maybe? The rest of her emotions were a mystery to her, so rare and strange and all tangled together that she didn't know what they were. But they were there, and they were hers. Happiness was hers.

_Alright._ Six turned, beaming, to the rest of the children and Nomes and counted them to make sure everyone was gathered. 24, including herself. Her heart paused. Someone was missing.

Eight.

Six peered over the crowd and tried to spot a figure with braided hair and a dark purple dress, but she couldn't see her anywhere. Her stomach dropped like a heavy sinker into dark water, her happiness forgotten.

"Eight?" She called. She moved to Twenny, the young boy who had been with Eight the whole time. "Where's Eight?"

Twenny blinked and looked behind him. A look of surprise spread across his face as he realised Eight wasn't standing there.

"Eight!" Six called again, panic growing.

"Six! I'm here!"

Her voice was muffled from behind the wall, but after a second Eight stepped through it, carrying a Nome. Six's shoulders sagged in relief.

"Where were you?" Six hissed, a little more harshly than she meant. Her voice was tight with worry.

"Six, um," Eight turned around and gestured to the gap in the wall. A second later a boy ducked through it, followed by a line of 6 Nomes. "His name is Three," Eight explained quickly. "He tells me he escaped from the Prison ages ago and came to the surface when he heard the first engine fail."

Three marched up to Six and beamed. "Hi, I'm Three."

Six blinked. "Hi…"

Three looked around at the gathered escapees, eyes sparkling. "Woah, this is amazing! Is my buddy Seven here?"

At the mention of that name, Six saw Eight stiffen. The placed the Nome she was carrying on the floor, opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again as Three moved away towards the crowd.

"Seven! Seven, are you here?"

Eight swallowed. "Three…" Her voice was choked with sorrow. Six remembered what Eight had said to her: _I couldn't save Seven..._

Three turned around. "Yeah?" His face fell when he saw Eight's downcast eyes. "What's wrong? Isn't Seven here?"

"He…" Six felt something shift within Eight, a grief that she'd been trying to suppress but couldn't any longer. A deep guilt. "He...didn't make it. The Lady…"

"What…?" Three's voice was a mere breath of shock, whispered in disbelief.

"I'm sorry," Eight said, her voice cracking. "I watched it happen. I was there, but...there was nothing I could do!"

With a shuddering heave, Eight burst into uncontrollable tears. Six moved forward to hug her, wrapping her arms tightly around the girl's waist. She glanced at this new boy, Three. He stood rigid as a statue.

"I'm sorry…" Eight sobbed. "I'm so, so sorry."

"It's not your fault," Six soothed. Even though she didn't know the full story of how Seven had died, she believed that Eight had done all she could to protect him. Even though Six had never met the boy, she felt a deep ache for him in her own body. Silently, secretly, she was thankful that the Nome she'd consumed hadn't been Seven. If Eight had watched Seven die with her own eyes, that at least meant he'd been killed swiftly by the Lady's hand and not transformed into a Nome like the child who's life Six had ended. She still didn't know who that child had been, but at the very least, it hadn't been Eight's friend.

Three joined in the hug too, his face wet with tears. "It's ok," he whispered to Eight. "I know it's not your fault."

The rest of the kids and Nomes stood awkwardly as Six and Three comforted Eight. Eventually, her tears quietened and she broke away from the hug.

"Let's just get out of here," she sniffled.

Six nodded firmly. "Right." She turned back towards the heavy doors, printed with a single unblinking Eye, and focused on opening them. Her tendrils wisped outwards from her body, reaching towards the doors. Six closed her eyes and steadily pushed her power forwards. The doors moaned...and parted.

Sunbeams pierced through, ancient motes of dust spiralling within them. The escapees gasped in awe from behind Six, standing on tip-toes and pointing.

A wide staircase sloped upwards as far as Six could see, and the faint tang of saltwater and the cry of birds beyond that wafted inside. Were they free? Was it really that simple?

"I'm going to take a look around outside," Six said to Eight, still wary. The others hung back while she took off, bounding up the steps.

After her tiny foot had reached the last step, Six emerged into the outside world. She shielded her eyes from the sun as she stepped out onto the warm metal of the Maw's hull and looked left and right for a sign of anything useful, anything boat-like...

"Six!" Eight was calling from halfway-up the steps. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah! Come on up!" Six shouted back, and after a few seconds the pitter-patter of feet echoed as the rest of the group climbed the steps to meet her.

They fanned out around Six, blinking against the harsh light and gasping in awe at the view. Some of the kids even reached skywards towards the sun, the rays peeking between their fingers and warming their skin. For all except Six and Eight, who had both climbed the hull in their journeys to the Guest Area, this would be their first memory of the sun.

"Woah..." Three murmured, his eyes and mouth almost as wide as they could go. His Nome friends danced around his legs, rattling and chittering excitedly. Twenny was chasing them around, giggling in delight.

Six heard another laugh behind her and turned to see Eight coming towards her, arms wide. "This is amazing!" she exclaimed, gesturing to the wide, open sky. She grabbed Six in a tight hug, who gladly returned it.

"Yeah. And we did all of this together."

Eight stood back, holding Six by the shoulders and looking into her half-hidden face. Her eyes were still red-rimmed from tears, but she smiled. "What next, captain?"

"Well…that's the thing - we need a boat of some sort. I looked around up here, but there's nothing. Maybe if I go back down and-"

"Look!" one of the kids yelled, thrusting out their arm to point at something on the horizon. The group rushed to them and huddled around, scrambling to see what they were pointing at. Six and Eight exchanged a glance and pushed through the crowd to investigate.

A large, hulking figure was coming across the water towards them, rowing a boat. The children and Nomes watched the scene with bated breath, not knowing who this person was. Eight joined Six at the front of the crowd, her hand unconsciously moving to the last of the pins on her ribbon-belt. Six readied herself too, keeping her tendrils dormant for now but commanding them to be prepared for action. The children whispered amongst themselves, uneasy.

"We'll handle this," Six said confidently. "Stay back a safe distance. And no-one say a word, ok?"

With tense faces the children nodded, the older ones drawing the younger ones in closer and holding fingers to their lips to keep them hushed. Six realised with some shock that they all trusted her and Eight completely, especially after they'd rescued them from the Bellman and led them through the secret passageway. They all looked up to her, willing to do anything for her. Six was responsible for them now. She couldn't let them be harmed.

The stranger churned the oars with his massive arms and guided the rowboat to the shore of the Maw's man-made steel beach. He stiffly got to his feet, the boat swaying under his bulk, and placed one booted foot into the lapping water, followed by the other.

He was enormous; his shadow alone would've been enough to cloak all of the gathered Nomes and children should they bunch up inside it. But instead they were shuffling backwards, cowering as he towered over them. Only Six stood bravely, Eight just behind her.

Six sized up this potential threat. She had to tilt her head back to look up at the monster's face, a long horse-like thing that looked like a half-stuffed hessian sack with two eye-holes cut out of it. He wore a dark fedora and trenchcoat with the collar turned up. The pockets alone were big enough to fit at least 3 children inside comfortably, maybe up to 6 if he stuffed them in with his chunky hands.

"Little Six," he said, his sack-like face somehow forming a grin as he laid eyes on the bright raincoat. "Lookin' for another ride?"

_Another?_ _Was he the one who brought us here?_

Six let the thought slide for now. She couldn't let herself waver. "Who are you and what do you want?"

He obviously knew who she was; knew her name at least. After all, the Wax Bellman and Eyes throughout the Maw had doubtless been watching her from time to time. Who knew how many people were aware of her now that the Maw was in ruin? And especially since Six had no memory of her past...how many people had she met before who were now forgotten?

"I'm the Ferryman," the monster replied. His voice was a husky drawl, one that carried a hint of danger that sent chills down her spine. "And I won't hurt you none: I only want to carry the little lady and her friends across."

"Across to _where_?" Six demanded. She felt Eight place a hand on her shoulder warningly.

"Why, to land, o' course. Unless the little lady would rather _drown_ out here?"

Six looked into his eyes, or rather, the dark, droopy holes with nothing inside. Why was it that the children seemed to be one of the only living things made of real flesh and bone and heartbeats? Why were all the beings in this world like distorted puppets or toys, seemingly created for jobs that no-one else wanted to do? After absorbing the Wax Bellman's essence, she'd learnt that he'd been crafted by the Lady to spy on the Maw. That meant the Ferryman had probably been created by someone for a specific purpose too, but what? Who was he working for?

Six ignored the Ferryman's question. She was smart enough to sense a trap. "You wouldn't come and rescue us for no reason," she stated. "You want something. In return for taking us to land, you want something."

The corners of the Ferryman's sagging mouth lifted a little. "Why, yes. I do. Very clever of you to work that out, little lady." With sluggish movements, he knelt down to get his face as close to Six's as possible. He still towered over her, but now she could see the individual stitches in his grimy stuffed-sack face. "You have three options. The first is that you come with me, and I'll give your little friends somethin' to fill their bellies..."

Here, he reached into the depths of his trenchcoat and pulled out a bag the same material as his skin. He reached inside and grabbed a fistful of hardtack, showing the children. In his massive hand, the biscuits looked like tiny squares fit for mice, but Six knew it would be enough to ward off the group's starvation until they got to land. Not the most nutritious or tasty food, but something. The Ferryman only let Six and the other escapees look at it for a few moments before he stowed it safely back in his coat and slowly straightened up.

"And, o' course…" he continued, "if the little lady _don't _come with me, her and her friends will be stuck out here in the deep blue sea. That's your second option. But I'm sure you don't want none of that."

Six's mouth was drawn in a tight line. The Ferryman turned and shambled back to his rowboat.

"And the _final _option, little lady..." he paused and turned to her, "...would be to kill me. You can use that magic o' yours and reap my soul, take all my essence, but even if you did, why, you'd still be stuck ou' here with nowhere to go."

It was true. Six _could_ kill him, _could_ take his essence and learn where he had come from - who had made him and what his motives had been. She'd even learn which way to go to get to land. But _knowing_ how to get to land didn't mean she'd be able to actually get there. The rowboat's oars were far too thick and heavy, and the children too scrawny and malnourished to even hold them properly, let alone work as a team to cross the sea. They had no option but to go with the Ferryman if they wanted food in their stomachs and firm ground under their feet.

"You still haven't told me what you want in exchange," Six pointed out.

"Why, that's correct, little lady." The fabric of his face stretched in a puckered smile. "In return for my _gracious_ hospitality and bringin' you and your little friends to land - feedin' 'em too, I might add - you, little lady, are gonna do exactly what I say when we get to shore."

Six's frustration was rising. "And _what_ is that, exactly?" she hissed.

"Six…" Eight whispered so only she could hear.

"Only time'll tell," the Ferryman answered simply. "But know this - if you don't cooperate I'll take you and your little friends somewhere with no food for miles around. Even if _you _don't get hungry, little lady, your friends will. Misbehave and you'll watch them starve. _Every single one_ of them."

The escapees behind her stiffened collectively, breaths catching, eyes widening. But true to their promise, none of them spoke.

"Do we have a deal?" the Ferryman asked.

Six looked from the Ferryman's wrinkled smile to the crowd of kids and Nomes behind her, then back to the Ferryman. She trusted herself enough to be able to get out of his grasp and escape whatever unknown dangers lay ahead. Clearly he wasn't a good guy, even if he appeared to be. Six was willing to sacrifice herself for her friends. Even if it meant she suffered or got separated from the rest of the group, she'd do all she could to keep them out of harm's way. She'd still have struggles; she'd still have work to do. The Ferryman wasn't offering her freedom, but if she took his offer she'd at least have a _chance_ at freedom. She'd play along, she'd weave through whatever nets he threw at her, she'd conquer him and whoever else threatened her and her friends.

Six stared unblinkingly into the Ferryman's empty eyes, black as the power undulating inside her. Maybe one day his soul would join the rest, and his creator's too.

"Fine," declared the raincoated girl. "It's a deal."

****_\- End of story -_

**A/N: **

My fancy divider from the last chapter worked fine when I was editing but didn't appear in the published version? What kind of sorcery….? I'm still so new to this haha.

Anyway, I'm simultaneously delighted and saddened to announce that this is the end of the story! But don't be upset - it doesn't end here because I've got lots more in store for Six and the crew (crew...cos they're on a ship...pun fully intended, sorry). The _Children of the Maw_ sequel will take inspiration from _Little Nightmares II, _so when that game comes out I'll have lots more material to inspire me and whole new characters, settings and adventures for you lovely readers to indulge in!

I had so much fun writing this even though this year's been pretty wild so far and I've had a fair few hiccups along the way. If you enjoyed this, any feedback you'd like to give would absolutely make my day, and you're more than welcome to check out some of my other pieces too! I update my bio with current/future projects I'm planning, so you'll know when I start writing my sequel (and anything in the meantime).

Thanks very much for reading _Children of the Maw_ and supporting my first ever long-term writing project! Have a great day/night :)


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